When They Really Are After You
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Gambit has a bounty on his head and Rogue is on a mission to keep him alive.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Just a little something I've been writing on the side while working on _The Air That I Breathe_. This story takes place well after the events of _Wolverine and the X-Men_. If you've read the released scripts for the first 8 episodes of season 2, this story also comes after them, but is not directly inspired by them as I was writing this before the scripts were released. (If you're interested in reading the scripts, you can find them on the "1 Million to save WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN" Facebook page, in their photo albums).

This was my first major attempt at writing Deadpool. If he seems OOC at all, I apologise.

Updates will be **weekly.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Rogue lifted her eyes over her cards and glanced up at the three so-called gentlemen at the table with her, wondering how exactly she'd gotten talked into this. Then she remembered: Deadpool, mercenary; Gambit, world-class thief; Logan, former-mercenary; Rogue, X-Man on X-Man salary. Clothes seemed like a cheap alternative to the amounts of money the three men were betting with at the start of the game, now she wasn't so sure.

"You gonna turn those cards over or what?" Logan asked.

Rogue sighed and turned her cards over. She was so sure her Full House had won her the round that she had bet everything. Unfortunately, the Flush Straight Logan just revealed put an end to that idea. Logan gave a grunt as Rogue's cards were revealed, and as they were the only two in that round, he reached into the middle to retrieve his winnings.

"Well, looks like if you wanna stay in the game we get to see some boobies," Deadpool said happily to Rogue. "Please wanna stay in the game."

"Ignore him, chère," Gambit said, throwing a smirk at Deadpool. "He's just sore because the storm's knocked out the cable and he can't watch the 'special interest' channels."

"Just remember, Rogue," Logan said as he sorted out the cash and chips. "You promised these guys that you wouldn't put your clothes back on until the game was over, whether you were still playing or not."

"Yeah, I know," Rogue replied as she considered. "But what else am I gonna spend my time doing while we're waiting for this blizzard to blow itself out? Unless you guys were planning on going back to trying to kill each other again."

A couple of weeks previous, Professor Xavier had informed Logan that there was a mutant in danger in Canada, whose life they needed to save. The future depended on it and all that jazz. The Professor had given a location, but didn't name the mutant. When Logan and Rogue arrived it became obvious why the Professor hadn't named names: Logan was not at all impressed to find out that there was a bounty on Gambit's head; one that Deadpool was pursuing. Of all the mutants in the world they had to "need" why Gambit?

"We are killing each other, chère," Gambit replied while he skilfully shuffled the cards. "We're just measuring our success in cash instead of blood."

The ensuring fight had been bloody and brutal, and only broken up by the weather. They were now all snowbound in Gambit's not-so-safe-anymore-house.

"And nudity," Deadpool added, and Rogue was convinced that his full-face mask was covering up a leer.

"In that case, am I winning or losing?" Rogue asked.

"Guess it depends if you enjoy having men ogle you," Gambit said, lazily dragging his eyes over her all-but-naked body.

Rogue gave a shrug and stood.

"I have to admit, it is a pretty novel experience," she said, reaching around for the hooks at the back of her bra. "I usually start repelling people when I take off clothes, not attracting them."

All three men had their eyes locked on her chest as she pulled her bra off and dropped it on the floor. She was partly embarrassed and partly thrilled by the whole thing. Deciding the best response to their staring was no response, Rogue reached over for the tray of poker chips and pulled out the pre-designated amount they had decided her bra was worth.

"Nipples!" Deadpool said happily.

Logan cleared his throat, realising he was staring and turned his attention quickly to the cards Gambit was dealing.

"I can't imagine you repelling anyone," Gambit said, his eyes on Rogue as he dealt. "Unless... perhaps they're just intimidated because you're too much woman for them."

"Oh," Deadpool said, propping his head up on the table with one arm and looking directly at Rogue while sounding wistful, "I don't think you can ever have too much woman."

Rogue smirked and nodded her head towards Deadpool. "You heard the man. Not possible."

"I said 'them' not 'us'," Gambit replied, and then smirked at Logan. "Although Wolverine over here looks like he's going to be sick."

Logan glowered at Gambit. Gambit's grin broadened. Deadpool dropped his opening bet into the middle.

"He's just put out because we work together," Rogue cut in. "Office romances. They never work out."

Logan grunted and added his bet to Deadpool's.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, chère," Gambit said, while Rogue added a few chips to the pile of cash in the middle. "I'd almost consider joining the X-men if it meant I had access to a rack like yours."

Gambit added his bet to the pot and chuckled at Logan's growl.

"One game of partly strip poker does not mean you get _access_ to my 'rack' whenever you feel like it," Rogue replied tolerantly.

"What would?" Gambit asked as he dealt out the first three community cards of their game of Texas Hold 'em poker.

"You may have heard of this thing," Rogue said. "It's called a 'date'. I've never been on one myself, but I'm told they're a pretty important part of having a romantic, sexual relationship with someone."

"Gambit's not going to have time for that," Deadpool declared. "He's going to be too busy being dead. I have a bounty to collect. Me, on the other, hand, my schedule is totally clear after I off him. And I already have the full-body spandex suit. I'm wearing it right now. See how it shows off my girlish figure?"

"I thought we discussed this," Gambit said with a dark glare at Deadpool. "I pay you three times the bounty and you let me live."

"If offing you means I have a chance with that..." Deadpool said with a gesture towards Rogue.

"You planning on paying off everyone else who's after the bounty?" Logan asked.

"I have this short list of assassins I can't beat in a fight," Gambit replied slyly. "Allow me to recite it to you: Deadpool. And that's about it. Oh wait... maybe Sabretooth. Hate that guy."

"Join the club."

"You already asked me that. I haven't decided yet."

"Offing Gambit does not give you a chance with me," Rogue said firmly to Deadpool as the next round of betting commenced. "In fact, offing Gambit gives you the opposite of a chance with me."

"Aw, you do like me," Gambit said, batting his eyes at Rogue.

"What's the opposite of a chance?" Deadpool mused. "Is that like Community Chest or something? When you pick up that one card that says 'Go to Jail. Go Directly to Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.'"

"I like your community chest," Gambit said with a wink at Rogue as he dealt the next card.

"Go back three spaces," Deadpool went on.

"You refer to my chest or any other part of me again as 'community' and I'll rip you a new one," Rogue informed Gambit in no uncertain terms.

"Make repairs on all your properties..."

"They're looking pretty communal at the moment, chère," Gambit replied and Rogue glared at him.

"You have gotten second prize in a beauty contest..." Deadpool said.

"Wow, really," Logan said as he turned over his cards, indicating he was folding. "Whoever won first must be a shocker."

"I think Rogue must have won first," Deadpool said. "She's definitely the hottest one here."

Gambit reached for his beer. "I'll drink to that."

"You'll be drinking something in a minute," Rogue told him direly.

Gambit leaned back in his chair and looked her over slyly. "I can only hope."

Logan muttered something under his breath about not knowing what Professor Xavier was thinking.

"No fair, I saw her first," Deadpool said. "If anyone gets to drink her milkshakes it's me!"

"You did not see her first," Gambit objected, flipping out the final card.

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so infinity."

"Did not, infinity plus one."

"Did so, infinity plus one, no returns."

"I'm beginning to think that taking off the bra was a bad idea," Rogue said, looking between them with an amused smile on her face. "It's made you two go silly. Well, it's made Gambit go silly. Deadpool's just gone sillier."

"Boobies are like kryptonite," Deadpool declared, turning over his cards. "If Lois Lane had kryptonite boobies, Superman would be screwed. And not in the good way."

"Hmm, maybe that's why Emma's were always hanging out," Rogue mused. "Strategic advantage."

"So, why's Wolverine apparently immune?" Gambit asked slyly as Logan drank some of his beer.

Logan let loose a loud belch.

"I don't think he is," Rogue replied. "I think he just expresses it differently."

"You may have a point there, ma chère," Gambit said as he revealed his winning hand to the table and gathered the money and chips in the pot. "It must be very _hard_ working alongside someone as sexy as you and not be able to do anything about it."

"Well, I'm not usually naked."

"Why not?" asked Deadpool as he retrieved his cards. "If I looked as hot as you, I'd be naked all the time."

"For one thing, it's actually quite chilly," Rogue replied, rubbing her upper arms. "And for another, the voices of all the people touching you either by accident or because they couldn't control themselves would probably get to you after awhile."

"That wouldn't bother him," Gambit said, smirking towards Deadpool. "He's already got voices. He probably thinks they could do with some more company. So, a bit cold, are you, ma chère? Need someone to help warm you up?"

Logan's claws came out with a snikt and he glared at Gambit.

"Now, now, Wolverine," Gambit said mildly. "You can cut the deck next round."

"I don't need any help keeping warm," Rogue replied. "Besides, the only one here who could safely 'help' me would be Deadpool."

The cards Deadpool was shuffling went flicking through the air.

"Yes!" Deadpool exclaimed, scooted his chair away from the table, and patted his lap. "Come sit with me, babe. Say, have you examined your breasts for lumps lately?"

"Oh please tell me that line doesn't actually work?" Gambit demanded with a look of pain on his face.

"Hey, you know I'm a prime example of why you need to check for early signs of cancer," Deadpool replied cheerfully, and then leaned in towards Rogue. "Would you like my professional opinion?"

"You're a professional mercenary, not a doctor," Rogue replied. "And no."

"We could play doctor."

"Deadpool, pick up the cards."

Deadpool saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

"And while he's doing that," Gambit said, standing up. "I might go turn up the heat."

"You don't have to—" Rogue began.

"Rogue, you have goosebumps," Gambit pointed out. "Your nipples are sticking out so far, I could hang a painting on them. I'm turning the heat up."

Rogue chuckled as he headed off.

"Thanks, sugar," she called after him.

Deadpool eyed off Gambit's cash as he picked up the last of the cards. Rogue noticed his gaze.

"Don't even think about it," she told him.

"Who, me?" Deadpool asked innocently.

"Yeah, you."

"You know, the only thief around here is Gambit. Just saying."

"Uh huh."

By the time Gambit returned, which wasn't long, Deadpool had finally gathered up all the cards and was busy shuffling them. He started dealing as Gambit sat down. The ski cabin was two stories with three bedrooms, excellent heating system, and a well stocked kitchen full of tinned foods and anything else that wouldn't perish in a hurry. Gambit maintained that he hated the cold and the snow, and when queried why he would have a ski cabin for a safehouse, he merely responded it was _supposed to be _the last place anyone would expect to find him. It did take the cabin a little while to warm up, but Rogue's goosebumps eventually did subside, while Logan and Gambit felt the need to take jackets off.

The conversation did eventually move away from Rogue and her naked body, but she noticed that even Logan sneaked peeks at her as the game continued. Rogue even started winning more rounds because she figured out how to use this to distract them from how she was playing and what they were doing. Only Gambit seemed to cotton on, and there was something in his demeanour that suggested to Rogue that he found the whole thing highly amusing.

Despite her winning streak, Rogue ended up losing everything again. By this point, Logan was doing fairly steady, Deadpool was losing, and Gambit was raking it in. Logan kept his eyes firmly on the cards he was gathering and shuffling, Rogue was certain that Deadpool was wearing a gleeful grin under his mask, and Gambit just looked at her with a delighted twinkle in his eye.

"So Roguey—" he started to say.

"Rogue," she corrected firmly.

"—are we going to get to see what's hiding under those cute little pink panties of yours, or are you going to call it a game?"

Rogue chewed her bottom lip. Decisions, decisions. On the one hand, she was enjoying the attention she was getting. On the other hand, she wasn't really sure she wanted to be completely naked in front of two men she hardly knew and one she considered to be family. On the third hand, she was having fun playing, even if she was losing more than winning and did want to continue. On the fourth hand, there was some definite evidence of her enjoyment on her briefs at the moment, and it would be mortifying if it happened to transfer to the cushioned chair she was sitting on (or if any of the guys realised at all). On the fifth hand, since she spent most of the time sitting down, the guys wouldn't actually get to see much more for the rest of the game than they were at the moment. On the sixth hand (did she absorb Spiral recently or something?), what were the odds of her ever playing any form of strip poker again? Well, she supposed if Gambit did join the X-Men that might end up being a possibility...

"Call it a game, Rogue," Logan advised.

"Noooo, don't say that," Deadpool objected. "I wanna know what kind of bikini wax she has."

"Oookay, things just got weird," Rogue said. "I think I'll call it a game."

"Alright then, chère," Gambit replied with a flicker of disappointment in his red eyes. "You just sit there and look sexy then."

"Well, I did promise whatever I took off would stay off until the end of the game," Rogue said in acknowledgement. "May as well stay and watch."

"And you can always change your mind later," Gambit went on. "Buy back in any time."

"'Cause there's nothing self-serving in that," Rogue replied with a smirk.

"Not at all. People do that in poker all the time. It's not like it's a tournament or anything."

"You enter a lot of tournaments, Gambit?" Logan inquired as he dealt the cards.

Gambit shrugged. "Once or twice. Curiosity mainly."

The round commenced and Rogue found herself drifting between boredom, and trying to figure out if she could identify their tells. Numerable rounds in, she headed off to the kitchen with their empty bottles and brought back more drinks for the group. She had a vague idea that there was something missing near her seat when she got back, but thought nothing of it as Gambit chose that moment to remark on just how sexy she looked and how much he'd just love to lick her breasts. Logan growled at Gambit for this, while Deadpool chimed in with what he'd like to do, leaving Rogue rather red-faced with the graphic imagery.

"Really, Deadpool?" Gambit asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Of course! Who wouldn't?" Deadpool replied cheerfully. "Well, a gay man might not want to. And a straight woman probably wouldn't want to either. And a lesbian might want to, but I'm not sure how she'd pull half that stuff off."

Gambit stared at him, and then turned his attention back to Rogue.

"I apologise for getting him started, ma chère," he said. "I only wanted to tell you just how turned on I am by you right now. I had no desire to cause you any embarrassment."

"Oh, it's okay," Rogue said quickly, determined to push the blushing away. "If he gets out of hand, we can always throw him into the blizzard. That should cool him off."

Gambit laughed.

"Oughta throw both of ya into the blizzard," Logan muttered.

"And you too," Gambit said with a smirk at Logan. "Co-worker or not, you find Rogue just as attractive as we do. I saw you sneaking peeks when you thought we wouldn't notice."

"Don't know what you're talking about," Logan replied, renewing his interest in his cards.

Rogue covered her mouth to hide her laugh.

"So, Roguey," Gambit went on, checking his own cards. "I think you should give me some sort of spiel on why I should join the X-Men. 'Cause right now the only incentive I have is to be around you all day."

"Well, for one thing, we don't send assassins after former employees," Rogue replied.

Gambit's eyes narrowed. "You know who ordered the hit?"

"You don't?" Rogue asked in surprise.

Gambit shook his head. "Only got a tip off that there was one. And by tip, I mean people started trying to kill me. Not even the ones that babble during a fight were being forthcoming with that information. Deadpool."

"I cannot name my source," Deadpool replied grandiosely, and brandished a fistful of cash into the middle.

"Sibyl Zane," Rogue said to Gambit. "That's who ordered the hit."

Gambit gave a low whistle, leaned back in his chair and turned his cards over. "Senator Kelly cleaning house, hein? I hate it when people do that. Maybe I should take a page out of Elektra's book and go kill them."

"Or for a modest fee, I could go kill them for you," Deadpool said.

"And by 'modest fee' you mean 'on top of what I'm already paying you not to kill me'," Gambit replied.

"Exactly."

Gambit thought about it, then shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. Elektra was always pretty screwed in the head anyway. Great body though."

"Good in bed too," Deadpool added, then nudged Logan. "Am I right?"

"Uh, sure," Logan replied awkwardly.

"Why, Logan, you sly dog," Rogue said batting her eyes at him.

Logan grunted, then said: "She ain't that screwed in the head."

Gambit shrugged. "Assassins are always screwed in the head. It's like an occupational hazard or something."

"Actually come to think of it," Rogue said thoughtfully, leaning back in her chair. "I haven't met that many assassins, but the ones I have met are all a bit nuts. You might be onto something there, Gambit."

"And that's what the X-Men want on their team, right?" Gambit said as Logan and Deadpool finished up the round. "The thief who points out how screwed up murderers are."

"Nah, we already have one of those," Rogue replied. "Well, she's a former thief. And Storm doesn't so much point out how screwed up murderers are as she does play moral compass. But close enough, right?"

Gambit smiled. "So, what do you want me for?"

Rogue thought fast. Until Gambit committed to the X-Men, they were not telling him about Professor Xavier communicating with them from twenty years in the future, and until they got into the middle of the fight between him and Deadpool, they didn't even know who they were after. With no real explanation of why they wanted him on the team to give, Rogue opted to take a page out of Gambit's book. She leaned back in her chair so she had the best view of Gambit and raked her eyes over his body.

"I can think of a few reasons," she said flirtatiously.

Gambit grinned at her as he gathered up the cards after Logan won the round. "Name one that doesn't involved you getting laid."

"Well, there's your skills—"

"You just said you already have a thief. Former thief."

"And your contacts."

"Hmm."

"And the mansion is in dire need of some decent eye candy... Oh I did say that one out loud?"

Gambit smirked at her. Logan frowned.

"Rogue," Logan admonished.

"What?" Rogue asked, batting her eyes at him.

"You'll both excuse me if I'm a little dubious about your reasoning," Gambit said as he shuffled the cards. "Since every time we've crossed paths before, we've been on opposite sides, more or less."

'Yeah, and we figure the best way to stop that from happening again, is for you to join us," Logan replied.

Gambit shook his head. "Not buying it. What's really going on here?"

"Nothing," Rogue replied, finally figuring out an appropriate response. "It's a no-pressure, open-ended invitation, and we're shamelessly taking advantage of the fact that your former employer is trying to have you killed to extend it. The Xavier Institute—and the X-Men—has always been open to mutants seeking sanctuary, or wanting to start a new life, and who believe—or are open to believing—in Professor Xavier's dream that one day mutants and humans can co-exist peacefully."

"Ah, so it's more of a general invitation and less of a specifically wanting me thing," Gambit said.

"Exactly. Although Logan is telling the truth when he says he wants you where he can keep an eye on you," Rogue added with a grin.

"I think I'd prefer it if you were the one keeping an eye on me, chère," Gambit replied as he began to deal the cards.

"I'm sure we can arrange something."

The men only played a few more rounds before everyone decided that they'd had their fill for the night (or the morning, the lighting hadn't changed at all, so no one knew what time it was without looking at a clock), and decided to head to bed. Which brought up the next bone of contention:

"Only got three beds," Gambit told them as they all gathered up their winnings and Rogue got up to retrieve her clothes. "So that means someone's taking the couch, or two of us are sharing."

"Dibs sharing with Rogue!" Deadpool announced.

"Umm, where have my clothes gone?" Rogue asked, looking around the floor with a frown and not seeing a stitch of her clothing anywhere.

"Yeah, Gumbo—" Logan began to say, the same time Deadpool added: "Double dibs on sharing with Rogue!"

"Right here, ma chère," Gambit said, gesturing to the pile of clothes on the floor between himself and Deadpool. He then gestured to the chips in front of him. "Looks like I won them all."

With her arms firmly folded across her chest, Rogue frowned at the chips. The chips were financially valueless, and as such everyone tended to use them first when betting because it meant they weren't really at any risk of losing anything. It was only at that moment that Rogue realised she hadn't actually seen Gambit bet with any.

"So it does," she said tersely. "Can I have them back?"

"Sure," Gambit replied smoothly. "Can I ask a favour?"

"You can ask," Rogue said irritably as she walked around to retrieve her clothes.

"Will you actually consider it?"

"What do you want?" she demanded while quickly locating her bra.

"I haven't gotten that far yet," Gambit replied with a shrug as he watched. "Just wanted to know if you'd consider granting me a request as a reward for my awesomeness in winning all your clothes."

Rogue shot him a Look. He grinned back at her. Logan growled at him.

"I'll consider it," Rogue replied stonily. "That's all I'll do."

"Merci," Gambit replied, and turned back to the room. "Now, back to sleeping arrangements..."

"I'll take the couch," Logan said with a dark glare at Deadpool. "_No one_ is sharing with Rogue."

"Well, _that _should go without saying," Rogue said.

"Aww," Deadpool said, and they could practically hear him pouting.

Gambit chuckled. "Well, only my bed is made up, so we'll have to grab some sheets out of the cupboard. I'm sure there'll be an extra pillow and blankets around you can use, Wolverine. 'Pool, why don't I take you to your room first?"

Deadpool agreed, and Rogue continued dressing as they headed off. Logan didn't look at her, but half sat on the edge of the table. Rogue glanced over at him.

"You're annoyed I agreed to strip, aren't you?" she said.

"Just a bit, yeah," Logan replied. "But you're a grown woman and free to make your own decisions."

"I'm so glad you feel that way," Rogue replied cynically.

Logan grunted. Rogue pulled on the first of her two shirts and then grinned at him.

"It was fun though," she said. "I mean, yeah, things got a little perverted, and there were times when it felt awkward and weird, but it was still fun."

She didn't add that it was nice to hang out with a bunch of guys and not be just "one of the guys" for once. Not that she didn't appreciate being able to do that, but it was nice to know that men could look at her and see a woman occasionally.

"Sure, it's fun now," Logan said. "Don't want to see you get hurt later."

"I'm sure I'll manage."

Logan only grunted in reply, and Rogue finished dressing in silence. Gambit shortly returned, loaded up with a pillow and a couple of blankets.

"Here you go, mon ami," he said to Logan as he handed the bundle to him. "Ought to keep you nice and toasty tonight."

"Thanks," Logan replied dryly.

Gambit offered his arm to Rogue. "And if I may escort you to your room, ma chère?"

Rogue smirked at him and took his offered arm. "Sure."

The walk didn't take them far or long; just up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. Gambit took her to the room at the end. Rogue raised her eyebrows when she saw in. It was fully furnished and the bed was both made and looked like it had been slept in.

"This is my room," Gambit said, and went on quickly before Rogue could respond. "You can sleep here tonight, and I'll take the other room."

Rogue's cross expression shifted into a confused one. "Okay... why? Why not take your own room?"

Gambit gestured to the sliding door off to the side. "This is the only room with an ensuite. I figure you'd probably like your privacy."

Rogue glanced at the door, and then smiled appreciatively at Gambit.

"Thanks," she said. "I would, in fact."

He smiled back at her, and then kissed the back of her gloved hand. "Have a good sleep, ma chère."

"You too."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

There was no sign of the blizzard abating come morning, rather the snowfall seemed thicker than ever. After a hearty breakfast of what perishables they'd brought with them, the four turned to discussion on the weather, and then on what they were going to do to pass the time.

"I vote for Rogue getting naked again," Deadpool said.

"Funny you should say that," Rogue replied dryly as all eyes fell on her. "I was gonna suggest you boys all get naked."

"No, I really don't think so," Deadpool replied, sounding rather uncomfortable to Rogue's ear and she felt she must have imagined it. Then again, the guy did go around more covered up than she did, so perhaps not.

"Maybe if we play another stripping game," Gambit said, smirking. "Although it being as cold as it is, I think it would be better if we didn't. Don't want to have to jack the heating up again to compensate for our lack of clothes, since we don't know how long this is going to last. Probably should have thought of that last night."

Rogue shrugged. "Ah well, done now."

"Yeah, and not one of us regrets the glorious vision you blessed us with," Gambit said, then glanced at Logan. "Well, except maybe Wolverine. Not going to look at her the same, are you?"

Logan just looked at Gambit stonily. Gambit smirked.

"Well, this is your safehouse," Rogue said, feeling the need to change the subject. "I assume you organised a variety of entertainments in advance?"

Gambit nodded. "Movies, games. The usual fare."

"Movies?" Deadpool asked. "Excellent. Wait, why didn't you mention this porn stash yesterday?"

"Because there is no porn stash," Gambit replied dryly.

Deadpool made a rude noise. "Yeah right. What else are you supposed to do in hiding? Hire a stripper?"

Gambit shook his head as Deadpool raced off to the TV.

"Never got into that stuff," Gambit said mildly as he drank his coffee. "Porn's for losers who can't get real women."

Rogue laughed and grinned wickedly at Logan.

"Just so you know, Gambit? You just called Wolverine a loser. We at Xavier's know all about Logan's secret stashes. One has Canadian beer, the other..."

Logan glared at Rogue. Rogue's grin broadened. Gambit chuckled.

"I stand by my opinion," Gambit said.

"Why can't I find the porn!" they heard Deadpool shout. "I found _Star Trek_, but no porn."

Logan smirked at Gambit. "_Star Trek_?"

"Yet I'm still getting more real women than you, apparently," Gambit replied mildly.

"Never would have picked you for a '_Trek_ fan," Rogue said, regarding him thoughtfully. "I'm more of a _Star Wars_ gal myself."

"I like both," Gambit replied. "Got all those movies. Maybe we can have a marathon?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Ooooooh _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_!" Deadpool shouted. "We are so watching this!"

Gambit froze as Logan and Rogue stared at him. Then he relaxed and snapped his fingers.

"Oh, I'd forgotten all about that," he said. "Brought an ex-girlfriend up here once for what was supposed to be a romantic getaway, but she brought her daughter along. Didn't find out until after we got back that the DVDs had been left behind. And well, wasn't going to go all the way back to Canada just for that."

"An ex-girlfriend," Rogue repeated with both amusement and disbelief.

"Yes," Gambit replied, looking back at her steadily. "Well, she wasn't my ex at the time, but yeah."

"You used a safehouse as a vacation home?" Logan queried with a frown at Gambit.

"Yeah, rookie mistake," Gambit said. "Probably how Deadpool found me."

"If you hate the cold and the snow," Rogue asked with a twinkle in her eye, "why would you use this place as a vacation home?"

"I thought that much was obvious," Gambit replied. "She liked skiing, and I wanted into her pants."

"Mmhmm," Rogue said, grinning. "Well, I haven't watched _My Little Pony_ since I was a kid, and I sure haven't seen the new series, so I'm gonna go join Deadpool."

Gambit had the last sip of his coffee as Rogue trotted off. He and Logan looked at each other. Gambit set his empty mug onto the bench, and then left without a word to go join Rogue and Deadpool in front of the TV. Logan finished his own coffee and then casually wandered out just in time to hear Deadpool singing along with the theme song. Logan's only reaction was to grunt, and then find a relatively quiet place to work out.

Rogue was seated between Deadpool and Gambit in the middle of the three-seater lounge that Logan had slept on the night before. There weren't any other chairs or lounges in the room. Though there was plenty of space on the lounge, as their _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ marathon progressed (during which Deadpool sang along with all of Pinkie Pie's songs as well as the theme), Rogue started to feel more and more squished as both Deadpool and Gambit inched closer and closer to her. Soon she was firmly wedged between them with Deadpool's hand on her leg and Gambit's arm around her shoulders. Rogue didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed.

Eventually Rogue scooted forward on the lounge and twisted around into a lying position. The men were forced to adjust their positions as her legs went up on Deadpool's lap and her head rested on Gambit's lap. Gambit grinned down at her as Deadpool happily continued playing with her legs.

"Making yourself at home?" he asked her.

"Way more comfortable than feeling like a sardine."

"Heh, sorry. Just wanted to be—"

"Shh!" Deadpool commanded. "We're coming up to the part where Rainbow Dash kicks the dragon!"

Rogue and Gambit fell into amused silence. Gambit started gently stroking her head and hair, and the action made Rogue smile. She supposed she was reading too much into it, since like as not Deadpool and Gambit had a lot of experience with women and just saw her as the latest (and only) bit of tail to chase. Still it did make her wonder if she'd just been listening to all the wrong people about her "dateability" and if it was just a matter of meeting the 'right' guy.

Logan came by a little later and frowned when he saw them.

"You still watching this?" he asked, not really liking seeing Rogue in Gambit and Deadpool's laps. Where had her self-respect gone this last twenty-four hours?

"Shh!" Deadpool hissed at him. "I hate it when people talk during the movie."

Logan refrained from making a comment about the "merc with a mouth" complaining about other people talking.

"Come join us, Wolverine," Gambit said wickedly. "I promise we won't tell any of the other X-Men."

Logan grunted. "I'm going to shoot some pool."

"What I do?" Deadpool asked.

Logan didn't reply as he headed over to the pool table, and Deadpool was promptly distracted by Pinkie Pie singing about making cupcakes. Gambit bowed his head to bring it as close to Rogue's ear as he could.

"I think he's watched this show a lot," he said softly.

Rogue chuckled.

To Logan's relief, they did eventually stop watching _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_, at least for the time being. Logan had moved on from playing pool to entertaining himself in other ways, but then Gambit offered to play. It amused Rogue that the men were so quick to bring up stakes, and soon enough she was watching games with them and Deadpool with cash on the line. Eventually Gambit asked Rogue about a game.

"Only if it's friendly, thank you," Rogue replied.

"By friendly, do you mean friendly?" Deadpool asked on one side of Rogue, then zipped around to her other side and hovered a hand by her breast. "Or do you mean _friendly_?"

Rogue slapped his hand away. "Friendly."

"Rats, I hoping for _friendly."_

"Friendly's fine by me, chère," Gambit said with a slight smirk as he handed her a cue. Logan glowered at Deadpool from the sides. "Wasn't really expecting anything else."

"In that case, I'd love to," Rogue replied, accepting the cue.

"Great," Gambit said. "I'll set up the balls, and you can break if you want."

"Sure."

Before too long, the game got started. Rogue had played before, but she was nowhere near as good as the boys were. Partway through, Rogue was leaning over to try and hit the cue ball in the middle of the table in the appropriate direction, when she heard Deadpool whistle behind her.

"Oh yeah, check out that ass," he said. "Shake dat thing."

"Alright bub," Logan said irritably, stalking towards Deadpool with claws unsheathed. "I think it's about time you stopped ogling Rogue. You did more than enough last night."

"I like big butts and I cannot lie," Deadpool sang.

Rogue hit the cue ball, sending it knocking the four-ball into the side pocket.

"It's okay, Logan," she said. "Fair's fair: I've been checking out all your butts."

Logan stop glaring at Deadpool (who continued singing) and started gaping at Rogue. Gambit chuckled and leaned into her.

"Like what you see, ma chère?"

"Mmmaybe," Rogue replied as she wandered around the pool table. "Or maybe I just like stunning Wolverine into silence."

She threw a grin at Logan, who responded by frowning at her and sheathing his claws.

"It can't be both?" Gambit asked.

"Maybe," Rogue answered, and Gambit chuckled.

After a few more games, Deadpool randomly declared that he needed to clean his sword.

"That's a little too much information, don't ya think?" Rogue asked him.

"She had a big fight yesterday," Deadpool said sagely, nodding his head. "And she didn't even get any blood on her this time."

"She?" Gambit queried.

"Blood can't be healthy," Rogue said.

"Well, not for the person she's slicing up anyway," Deadpool replied cheerfully.

"Ah," Gambit said and gave Rogue a nudge. "He's talking about his katana."

"Oh, a real sword," Rogue said in relief.

"Well, we all know where your minds are," Logan said, looking pointedly at Rogue.

Rogue bit her bottom lip and grinned bashfully at him.

"Actually both of my katanas could use a clean, now that I think about it," Deadpool mused, his mind solely on his twin swords.

"Yeah, well, it can wait," Logan said. "I know how much that oil stinks. You can damn well wait until you can do it outside."

"But my babies might get all rusty and—"

"Oh, go watch _My Little Pony_."

"Yay!"

Gambit grinned at Logan as Deadpool bounded off singing the theme song. "You secretly want to watch it yourself."

"No, I really don't," Logan replied, and pointed his thumb at Deadpool. "But I like anything that keeps him quiet. Mostly quiet, anyway."

Rogue chuckled and nudged Gambit. "If Deadpool was a Pony, he'd be Pinkie Pie."

Gambit burst out laughing.

"Mon dieu, he is too," he said, leaning on Rogue's shoulder for support while he continued to chuckle. "Well, if he was G-rated and preferred parties over killing people."

To Logan's annoyance, Gambit and Rogue decided to join Deadpool for more _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_. To further his annoyance, Gambit manoeuvred things so that Rogue sat with her back against the arm of the lounge and her legs over his lap. Logan just couldn't understand why his normally sensible Rogue (if hot-headed and impulsive) was just letting Gambit, who she barely knew, play with her legs like that. The only reasonable explanation he could come up with was that maybe she was letting him get away with it in order to ensure his admission to the X-Men.

Logan went back to doing his own thing. At one point he attempted to meditate, but it was hard to focus when he had to deal with Deadpool bursting into song every twenty-or-so minutes to sing along with the theme song, not to mention just generally hearing the TV in almost every part of the house he tried to escape from it. He did eventually discover that in Deadpool's bedroom—which was the room furtherest away—he could get away from the noise.

Finally, as dinner time approached, Logan headed back downstairs just in time to hear one of the Ponies say "Applejack! Were you reading a bedtime story to...an apple tree?" and as he came into view he saw a little orange Pony tucking an apple tree into bed.

"Hey," Rogue said, well aware that Logan had re-entered the room. "It's Wolverine and his motorcycle."

Logan growled at her. Rogue grinned winningly back at him. Logan took a moment to hear Applejack respond and then his glare turned into a smirk as he listened to her hick accent.

"You sound more like that Applejack pony than I do," he said.

"Hey," Rogue objected. "I do not sound like that."

"But you do call people 'sugar'," Deadpool piped up. "That's almost 'sugarcube' and Applejack is always calling people 'sugarcube,' sugarcube."

Rogue narrowed her eyes at him. "I am from Mississippi. We're respectable hicks, thank you very much."

"Yeah," Gambit added, grinning slyly. "Very respectable river rats."

Rogue flicked him. "And don't you forget it, Swamp Rat."

"Respectable?" Logan repeated, giving a pointed look at where Rogue remained on Gambit's lap, like she hadn't even moved at all since he last saw them. "Sure, that's exactly what you look like right now."

Rogue's eyes flared in anger.

"Just what the hell's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, getting up off Gambit's lap so she could poke Logan in the chest.

"It means normally you're respectable," Logan said. "But come on, Rogue? Strip poker? Sitting on their laps? Letting them touch you?"

"It's not like they're touching me anywhere inappropriate," Rogue snapped at him. "And there's nothing wrong with sitting on a friend's lap; Jean, and Kitty, and all them do it all the time. And as for strip poker—"

"Yeah, did you know that's how they play it in brothels? Or used to?" Logan cut in. "The men bet money, the women bet clothes."

"And you've been sitting on this piece of information for the past twenty-four hours?" Rogue yelled at him, then threw her hands up in the air. "You know what? I don't even care. I had fun which was the whole damn point of me playing with you guys in the first place. And don't you start getting all high and mighty with me about it, neither! You liked seeing me naked just as much as these two did."

"But if you actually were respectable you wouldn't have stripped off in the first place and Deadpool," Logan said with a nod in Deadpool's direction, "wouldn't be on you to strip off again."

"Yeah, well, maybe I like him asking me that," Rogue retorted, not at all interested in conceding the point and admitting she wished he would stop doing that. "Don't know if you've noticed but usually people ask me to put clothes on!"

"No, actually. I haven't noticed anything of the sort because it doesn't happen," Logan replied. "Not unless your uniform's gotten ripped or something."

Rogue looked direly at him.

"Badly ripped," Logan added quickly. "Ripped enough that even you would opt to put something else on if someone else didn't mention it. You've always been...very careful about exposing skin."

"Yeah, out of safety," Rogue retorted. "Newsflash Logan, given the opportunity I would happily walk around in a tank top and a pair of shorts all day. Hell if all her clothes weren't white, I'd borrow stuff from Emma's wardrobe."

Logan stared at her.

"You would not," he said, shocked.

"I would so."

"She used to walk around in underwear when she worked for the Hellfire Club."

"Did I say anything about wanting to wear her underwear?" Rogue demanded. "Wow, unhygienic much, Logan? That woman had awesome taste in clothes and a commanding presence to pull off any look."

Logan blinked and scratched his head. "I can't believe I'm even having this conversation."

"Really? 'Cause you were the one who started it."

"Yeah, because you're cock-teasing a mercenary and a thief who you only met yesterday," Logan snapped at her. "I thought you were smarter than that!"

"Maybe I've got a taste for bad boys, you ever think of that?" Rogue said, and poked him in the chest again. "And I am not a cock-tease."

"Emphasis on the word 'bad' there, Rogue. You think they're going to have any respect for your boundaries?"

"They'd better have, or they're going to have a rude shock," Rogue retorted. "And probably a bad headache to boot."

Logan shook his head. "You can't rely on your mutation to protect you. It wouldn't have stopped either of these guys taking pictures at the poker game."

"Yeah," Deadpool piped up with a dramatic, disappointed sigh. "My phone was in the charger. And it was such a good opportunity to add to my porn collection too."

Rogue whirled on him and glared.

"If you had tried to do anything such thing, your phone would have ended up smashed against the wall, you got that?" she informed him angrily, waving her finger at him.

"But I like your boobies. They're nice and big and plump and I would have treasured those pictures always," Deadpool said. "I love them like Pinkie Pie loves cupcakes. They kind of look like cupcakes too, actually. Big cupcakes, with a dollop of frosting on top that you just wanna lick off and then sink your teeth into the moist tasty cupcake top. Nom, nom, nom."

Rogue stared at Deadpool, then abruptly turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen.

"I'm going to go make dinner," she said.

"Yeah, woman," Deadpool called after her, "get in the kitchen and make me a—"

"You finish that sentence and I will make you a sandwich out of your own fist!" Rogue yelled without a break in her stride. "And don't think I don't mean that literally!"

"Aww but I want a taco, not a knuckle sandwich."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Rogue laid on the lounge with her legs over the arm, and her head in Gambit's lap. After Deadpool's porn and cupcake comments about her breasts, Rogue was unwilling to sit back next to him, so she was somewhat relieved that Gambit had taken the imitative and sat in the middle of the lounge. The three opted to continue with their _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ marathon, while Logan decided to have an early night with the intention of getting up early while the others were still asleep so he could have some peace and quiet.

Abruptly the power went off, taking the lights, the TV, and the heating with it. For a moment they sat in silence, and then:

"Nooooo!" Deadpool exclaimed. "We were almost at the part where Fluttershy kills the bear!"

A faint magenta glow appeared, lighting up the space just enough so that the three could see each other and the card that Gambit had charged.

"It was a massage," Gambit corrected. "She didn't kill the bear, she was giving it a massage."

"How do you know that?" Rogue asked teasingly. "I thought you didn't watch the show."

"Look, when you see a cute My Little Pony—"

"Killing a bear,' Deadpool interjeced.

"—giving a very violent smackdown on a bear, you stop to watch and find out what the hell they're showing little kids these days," Gambit replied. "For all the violence in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, dropping an anvil on someone's head isn't quite the same thing as watching a Little Pony—"

"Kill a bear," Deadpool said.

Gambit sighed. "Kill a bear."

"Uh huh," Rogue replied, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "Well, as much as my interest has been piqued, we should probably find out what's happened to the power."

"Yeah," Gambit agreed, standing up.

"Mind if I come with?" Rogue asked.

"Sure."

"Okay," said Deadpool as the pair headed off. "I'll just sit here. Alone. In the dark. All by myself. With no one to turn to. Not even a volleyball. Or a..."

Rogue and Gambit tuned him out as they made their way to the room where the generator was kept. Once there, they began their inspection of the generator, and while Gambit was pleased to find out that Rogue had some mechanical expertise, it didn't do either of them much good. Whyever the generator stopped working, it wasn't immediate evident, and though they fiddled around with it for an hour, they couldn't find the problem. By that point there was a noticeable drop in the temperature.

"Merde, alright," Gambit said finally. "We should stop wasting our time and get the fire going. Firewood's this way."

There wasn't a lot of firewood stored away, since Gambit had been rather slack on that point, but there should be enough to get them through the night. He and Rogue gathered up as much as they could carry, and headed back into the lounge room where Deadpool was still rambling on. With the help of Gambit's mutant powers they soon had a fire going, at which point Deadpool yelled "Smores!" and proceeded to be devastated when Gambit informed him they didn't have the ingredients for smores.

Rogue stared into the flames feeling rather unsettled about the thoughts that had taken that moment to slip into her head. Professor Xavier had told them that Gambit was going to die up here, at this place. When she and Logan had arrived, Gambit had been fighting Deadpool, and they had assumed that Gambit's death would be the result of Deadpool murdering him.

But Gambit was going to pay him off.

Sure it was possible that Deadpool would have killed Gambit before Gambit could make the offer to pay him, but Rogue couldn't dismiss the possibility that Gambit hadn't been murdered at all. She and Logan hardly brought the blizzard with them, and they certainly weren't responsible for the power going out. What if Gambit had died, not at Deadpool's hand, but of hypothermia or frostbite?

"Gambit," she said after dwelling on these thoughts for just that little bit too long.

"Oui ma chère?" Gambit asked while holding his hands up to the fire.

"If I can say this without people getting silly," Rogue said, "I think it might be an idea if you and I shared the bed tonight. Body heat, and all that. Wolverine and Deadpool will ultimately be okay; they have healing factors, but we don't."

Gambit nodded slowly. "I was thinking the same thing, actually, just trying to figure out how to ask you without... well, without sounding like a pervert or something."

"It is a popular cliche," Rogue replied with a smile.

"It is," he agreed. "I think we should grab one of the mattresses from upstairs and have it in front of the fire."

"Good idea. Wanna hand?"

"Sure," Gambit said. "But not just yet."

Rogue chuckled lightly and they continued to sit in silence, trying to keep warm by the fire. As it grew colder everywhere but in front of the fire, the pair slowly moved closer to each other until they were pressed up next to each other.

"I think we should get that mattress now," Gambit said after a time.

"A few extra layers should be good," Rogue agreed as they stood.

They started to walk off, then glanced back at Deadpool who was happily entertaining himself in front of the fire.

"You think it's safe to leave him alone?" Rogue asked.

"Guess we'll find out," Gambit replied with a shrug.

With the use of one of Gambit's charged cards lighting the way, they headed up the stairs to Gambit's bedroom and went about extracting the mattress and the covers from the bed frame. It was a noisy enough activity that by the time they were hauling the mattress down the hallway, they were met by Logan standing at the doorway of the room Deadpool had slept in the night before.

"Power's out?" Logan asked. Since being woken up, he'd noticed that the hum of machinery at work had disappeared, and it was impossible not to notice the cold.

"Yeah," Rogue replied. "We have a fire going. Gambit and I figured we should sleep together in front of it tonight. You know, trying to keep as warm as possible."

After their earlier argument, Rogue wondered if Logan was going to start getting annoying about the whole 'body heat' thing. To her relief, he nodded.

"Good plan," he said. "I hope neither of you have been drinking any alcohol to help warm up, that only makes you lose heat faster."

"I know, and we haven't," Gambit replied. "I can't vouch for Deadpool though."

"Deadpool and I are different. Healing factor compensates," Logan replied. "Need a hand?"

Rogue and Gambit accepted his assistance, and together they got the mattress downstairs and situated in front of the fire. The return to the fireplace was a much welcome relief for Rogue and Gambit who had definitely missed its warm on their trek upstairs. They made the bed quickly, and Rogue threw on the hoodie she grabbed from her things. It wasn't just a matter of keeping warm, it was also a matter of making sure that she didn't absorb Gambit during the night.

Finally, the pair got under the covers. Rogue lay on her side so that her back was towards Gambit with the hood up over her head, and Gambit snuggled up next to her, wrapping one arm around her waist. The covers were cold, but a side-effect of Gambit charging things was warming them up. It wasn't enough to heat up a room, but it was able to take the chill off the covers.

"Rogue sandwich!" Deadpool declared.

He started to get in on Rogue's side of the bed, but she gave him a good hard push so he slipped off the edge of the mattress in surprise. Gambit chuckled.

"Oh no you don't," Rogue said firmly. "You wanna join us, you're sleeping on Gambit's side. Worst case scenario, I can always borrow a healing factor, but Gambit doesn't have that option so he needs the extra body heat more. You got that?"

"Thanks a lot, chère," Gambit said, and Rogue wasn't sure if he was being genuine or sarcastic.

"Okay," Deadpool said cheerfully, making himself at home next to Gambit. "But Gambit? This is just for one night, okay? I know, you're devastated, but we have to face facts: You and I just wouldn't work."

"If I feel your morning wood sticking in my ass in the morning, I'm going to kick your ass," Gambit replied as he felt Deadpool's arm slide over his body.

"What happens if I feel your morning wood?" Rogue asked Gambit teasingly, then frowned as she felt Deadpool's hand on a certain part of her female anatomy she didn't want it anywhere near. "Deadpool! Get your hand off my breast at once!"

"I'm just trying to help keep you warm," Deadpool insisted, but he did remove his hand. "Not to mention warm my hand up. Everyone knows the underboob is hot. And so is between the legs."

"Then keep your hand between your own legs," Rogue snapped at him.

"He does that all the time," Gambit said. "He was after a little variety."

"Then he can put his hand between your legs," Rogue said.

"That area is strictly reserved for me and the ladies. No Deadpool's allowed."

"Aww. Don't you three look so cute," Logan cut in cynically, standing over them. "Next one of you to put their hands where they're not wanted, I cut 'em off."

"What if Rogue does?" asked Gambit.

"Is there actually some place where you don't want her hands to go?" Logan asked sceptically.

"Well, no," Gambit replied, cuddling into Rogue and definitely enjoying this method of getting warm. "But a gentleman prefers to be wooed first."

Rogue giggled.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Should I have brought you flowers first?"

"Nah, I prefer bouquets of bubble wrap or food," he answered.

"I'll keep that in mind," Rogue replied in amusement.

"I want a taco bouquet!" Deadpool announced.

"That's nice for you, sugar."

"Ooh, and I want Bea Arthur to give it to me," Deadpool added with a wistful sigh.

"Isn't she dead?" asked Logan.

"That's a lie!" Deadpool shouted.

"Yah!" Gambit objected loudly. "Not in my ear!"

"Not in mine either," Rogue grumbled.

"Désolé, ma chère," Gambit said quickly, and in a much quieter tone of voice.

"It's not true," Deadpool continued on. "She's not dead. Sexiness of that magnitude can never die. Ever."

"Hear that Roguey?" Gambit asked. "You're going to live forever. You're way sexier than Bea Arthur."

Rogue snickered while Deadpool protested that no one was sexier than Bea Arthur.

The three eventually fell asleep in their bundle. Logan stayed up and kept the fire going. He'd gotten plenty of rest earlier, and in any case he was feeling too cold to go to sleep. Not that there was any room on the mattress to join the other three, even if he wanted to. During the night, the three would shift position, sometimes significantly, sometimes only a little. Whenever he heard a noise he would glance towards Rogue to make sure she didn't have any skin exposed in Gambit's direction. He didn't know if Rogue would wake up if she started absorbing someone in their sleep, and he didn't intend to find out tonight.

* * *

><p>Gambit woke up the next morning with something warm and squishy under his hand. Upon flexing of his fingers (which were gloved for some reason he couldn't determine in his half-asleep state), he realised with some satisfaction that it was a nice big breast. Convinced that he was in bed with his lover (whoever she was, his brain just couldn't figure that part out just yet), Gambit proceeded to caress that lovely breast.<p>

In response to these affections, he felt some movement by his crotch and it took him a moment to realise that his lover's hand was perfectly located. If he didn't already have morning wood, those lovely fingers would have made sure of it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realised there was something strange about waking up like this. He never woke up in a position like this. And if there ever was a time he did, it was because his lover woke up first and positioned them that way.

Hoping to have a great start to his morning, Gambit rocked his pelvis forward, intending to give her hand a better handful. His grip on her breast tightened and he was just about to lift his head to bestow further affections on her with his mouth when:

"Gambit?"

Gambit lifted his head and opened his eyes. Rogue looked back at him with a shocked expression on her face. Abruptly, Gambit remembered where his "lover" had come from.

"Mon dieu!" he exclaimed, pulling back quickly. "Désolé, ma chère, I thought—"

His words were cut off by the sound of laughter, and the two turned their heads to see Deadpool on the lounge behind him.

"You two should see the looks on your faces!" Deadpool exclaimed between giggles.

Gambit glared, and was about to have his say, when Rogue got in first:

"Why you dirty little ratbag!" And in one swift move, Rogue was out of the covers and onto Deadpool so fast, the lounge toppled over.

Gambit stood and peered over the fallen lounge about the same time that Logan came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. The two men watched as Rogue proceeded to beat the daylights out of Deadpool, who was only momentarily thrown off before giving back as good as he got.

"What's going on?" Logan asked, frowning as he watched the fight.

"Rogue and I woke up with... ah, with our hands in places we would not have put them without the other's consent first," Gambit replied and Logan's claws extended. "Rogue's taken it upon herself to defend her own honour."

Logan glared at Deadpool, but ended up sheathing his claws again. "Looks like she's got this. I'll be finishing breakfast—"

"Wait," Gambit said, realising that there was something else odd about this morning: the fire was out, the lights were on, and so was the heat. "Did you get the generator running?"

"Yeah," Logan replied while Rogue and Deadpool rolled into the wall, still punching, and kicking, and hitting each other. "Ran out of firewood during the night. Figured I may as well see if I could fix it before I started slicing up furniture. Managed to jury-rig something that should last until this damn blizzard is over."

"Still snowing?" Gambit asked as he grabbed Deadpool's phone off the coffee table.

"No idea. This level's been buried in snow," Logan replied. "I haven't checked the upstairs yet."

"Buried?" Gambit repeated. "Merde."

Logan agreed and headed back into the kitchen. Gambit fiddled around with Deadpool's phone, and Rogue continued to fight with Deadpool. There was no way she was letting him get away with this. If he had moved Gambit's hand onto her breast without her noticing, there was no reason why Deadpool might not have copped a feel of his own in the process. Her rage kept the fight going, but it was no substitute for a healing factor, and eventually the fight did end.

"You okay, Rogue?" Gambit asked, casually sliding Deadpool's phone back onto the coffee table with no one the wiser.

"I'm fine," she insisted, but everyone saw her limp into the kitchen and half-collapse into her chair.

Logan had already put breakfast out onto the table and he and Gambit sat down on either side of Rogue. Aside from the limp she was starting to show some swelling and other more immediate signs of her fight, but both men thought it was wiser not to comment.

"Noooo!" they heard Deadpool yell from the living room. "My photos are gone!"

Rogue's eyes blazed with fury, her rage reignited. "Photos!"

Gambit chuckled. "Oh yeah, they're gone all right."

Rogue and Logan looked at Gambit as Deadpool came walking in dramatically.

"All that hard work!" Deadpool wailed. "For nothing! Do you have any idea how hard it is to move Gambit around in his sleep without his noticing? Do you!"

"I'm disappointed you were able to do anything at all to me in my sleep," Gambit replied blandly. "I have people trying to kill me often enough."

"Wait!" Deadpool exclaimed, tapping wildly on his phone. "Maybe they're in the trash? Curse you touch screen! Why do you hate my gloves! Well I hate you, you hater!"

"They're not in the trash," Gambit said smugly. "And quite frankly, I think you should be grateful that I was the one who got to your phone and not Rogue, because Rogue would have smashed it, am I right, chère?"

"Into itty bitty bits," Rogue confirmed irritably.

Gambit looked hard at Deadpool. "Say thank you."

Deadpool huffed. "You guys are no fun."

"I guess that depends on your definition of fun," Rogue replied, bit into her breakfast, then promptly grabbed her jaw, spitting out her mouthful of food and a tooth with it in the process. "You son of a bitch!"

"That wasn't fun?" Deadpool asked.

Rogue looked like she was going to stab Deadpool with her fork when Logan held out his bare hand to her. The flare of rage in her eyes died down, and she tugged off her glove.

"Thanks, Logan," she said quietly.

Although aware that she could borrow Logan's healing factor in am emergency, Rogue didn't like to presume he'd just let her borrow him for any little thing. She had been quite prepared to deal with the injuries that were the result of her fight with Deadpool, even if she couldn't feel them all yet.

Logan shook his head slightly as Rogue's fingers lightly touched his hand, fighting off the dizzy spell. As Rogue put her glove back on, she felt her injuries heal, and pulled a face as she felt her tooth grow back. Now that was an unpleasant sensation. No one ever said healing was painless.

"So, do you two play 'doctor' often?" Deadpool asked cheekily.

"You are really asking for it this morning," Rogue replied with a dirty glare.

"I'm just sooo boooored," Deadpool said dramatically. "We've been stuck in here for days and days and days and days—"

"Two days," Gambit corrected.

"—and there's nothing to doooo—"

"You spent most of yesterday watching _My Little Pony_," Logan pointed out.

"—and there's no porn anywhere, and Rogue won't get naked again, and I'm horrrrnnnny—"

"Sugar, you're never going to see me naked ever again," Rogue informed him coldly.

"—and Gambit hasn't given me my money yet—"

"There's nowhere for you to spend it," Gambit pointed out. "And electronic communications with the outside world are down, so you can't even do any online spending."

"—and I'm bored and I wanna go home!"

"Join the club," Rogue said.

The four eventually got through breakfast, and then went about checking the windows for the latest on the weather situation. It turned out that they weren't quite as badly snowed in as Logan thought, as the one window on the other side of the house wasn't covered up with snow like all the others were. Inspection of the upstairs windows confirmed that the wind had simply been blowing the snow up against that side of the house. They also determined that the snow wasn't coming down nearly as heavy as it was before, and hoped that it was a sign that the blizzard was coming to an end.

After checking on the weather, Gambit and Rogue decided to get the mattress back up to the bedroom. It was easier now that their fingers weren't feeling icy, but harder as well as they had to cart it up the stairs instead of down them. They worked in an awkward silence as they put the mattress back into the bed frame and made it up again. Both of them were thinking about how they woke up that morning.

"So, uh, I was wondering," Rogue said as they tucked in the bottom sheet, "what was that favour you wanted me to consider?"

Gambit paused ever so briefly in his work, and covered it up by picking up the top sheet.

"I didn't have anything in mind," he lied. "I just like to collect favours. Even potential favours. Never know when they'll come in useful."

"Oh."

She had thought that when he asked about it that he'd had something sexual in mind. She had been almost completely naked at the time, after all. And while she objected to Deadpool's hand in things this morning, now that she had calmed down and gotten over the shock, she realised she had actually liked Gambit touching her breast and pressing his crotch into her hand. Rogue wasn't really sure what to think about that.

"So I guess this means that after we go our separate ways, I'm still going to need to contact you," Gambit went on, wondering a little if he'd noticed a note of disappointment in Rogue's voice, or if that was just wishful thinking on his part. "Can I get your number?"

"That depends," Rogue replied, trying not to get too excited about some guy asking for her number. "Can I have yours?"

"Certainly."

"Then yes."

"Merci," Gambit replied, and things fell into awkward silence again.

While they tucked in the second sheet and pulled up the blankets, Gambit tried not to think about how much he wanted to get his hands on Rogue again. That had been what he was going to ask her, although he was going to wait until the most opportune moment before inquiring whether she'd let him touch her naked breasts or not. Now it seemed downright inappropriate, and probably end up putting him in the same category as Deadpool in Rogue's mind.

They finished making the bed, and then got out their phones to exchange each other's numbers. Rogue tried to act like it wasn't that big a deal, but most of the numbers in her phone were fellow X-Men, and none of them belonged to anyone who had expressed any kind of romantic interest in her.

"You should put me down under 'Remy'," Gambit said during the exchange.

"I should?" Rogue replied.

"That's my name," Gambit said with a shrug. "Remy. Remy LeBeau, at your service."

Rogue smiled. "Nice to meet you. I only go by Rogue. Not even Wolverine knows what my original name was."

"Oooh, a woman of mystery," Gambit said, typing 'Rogue' into his phone. "Do I get a prize for finding out your name?"

"Nothing to find out, sugar. My name's Rogue, you already know that."

"Uh huh. And what does it say on your driver's license?"

Rogue chuckled and pulled it out of her bag. Gambit glanced at it and shook his head when he realised that all it said was "Rogue" as her name.

"You're serious," he said. "You actually have a mononym."

Rogue grinned as she took her license back. "Told ya so."

He grinned back at her, and they finished the exchange of phone numbers. No sooner than Gambit slipped his phone back into his pocket but the door opened and Logan looked in on them.

"Deadpool is more annoying than Iceman and Beast on one of their twinkie highs," Logan informed him. "And _My Little Pony _isn't distracting him this time."

"Can't we just bury him out in the snow?" Rogue asked with a sigh.

"I don't think it would take," Gambit replied, pushing himself up off the bed. "Come on, I have video games downstairs. One of them's bound to hold his attention."

"What about _Grand Theft Auto_?" Rogue inquired as they headed out of the bedroom. "I'm pretty sure that would keep him occupied."

"I steal cars for real, why would I need a game that simulates it?"

"To get your fix while you're stuck in your safehouse?"

"Nah, chances are I'd spend all my time being frustrated at how unrealistic it is."

Rogue laughed and Gambit grinned at her as they followed Logan downstairs.

An hour or so later, the four of them were playing Mario Kart. Rogue was quite surprised that Logan had actually agreed to join in on this one, but he did. Eventually they switched around and played other games. Occasionally Deadpool would suggest stakes but both Logan and Gambit shot him down, as if in silent agreement not to give Deadpool any opportunity to suggest Rogue strip again.

Before the last of the light faded outside, the snow stopped falling. Although all were eager to finally get out of this place, they also agreed that leaving at night probably wasn't the smartest idea and opted to stay another night and see how things were in the morning.

Roughly about the same time they decided this, the power generator started to complain about the load. After a quick inspection, Logan decided that they should reduce power usage to a minimum. The lack of TV and electronic gaming reduced Deadpool to a whining, complaining mess about being bored again, but then Gambit located a slinky and that kept Deadpool occupied for hours. The only downside was trying to get past him on the stairs.

Logan, Rogue, and Gambit stayed up in the kitchen, mostly making small talk about whatever happened to come to mind. There was a whine of the generator which caused the lights to flare off then on again. Gambit cleared his throat and looked at Rogue.

"So, chère," he said. "How do you feel about, ah, sharing the bed again tonight? You know, in case the power goes off again and takes the heating with it."

Logan eyed him and Rogue shrugged.

"Yeah," she said. "Probably a good idea, just in case. But let's not tell _him_ about it."

"Agreed," Gambit replied with a fervent nod.

When later they headed for bed, Gambit made sure that Deadpool wouldn't bother them that night by pushing the desk in the bedroom in front of the door. Since it wasn't actually cold, neither Rogue nor Gambit felt the need to actually snuggle next to each other, though both secretly wanted to. It made the moment a little awkward for them.

"This is weird, isn't it?" Gambit asked after they'd been laying in the dark in silence for a time.

"Just a bit, yeah," Rogue replied.

"Not usually in bed with a woman I'm not slee—ah, having sex with."

"I'm not usually in bed with anyone for any reason."

Gambit rolled on his side, and his red eyes glowed at Rogue in the darkness.

"What about that power suppressant collar?" he asked.

"What? The one you stole?" Rogue teased him.

"Yeah, that one."

"Dangerous for long-term use. Besides, it feels like taking the easy way out," she replied, and opted not to mention that power suppressant technology just made her feel downright uncomfortable.

"Well, I guess I can understand that."

Silence fell between them once more. Gambit really hated feeling awkward like this. He hadn't felt awkward around a woman in ages, not since his early teenage years. He resented feeling this way and decided that he was just going to have to do something about it.

"Hey, Rogue?" he said. "You wanna go on a date with me some time?"

There was a long pause. Finally Rogue asked: "You serious?"

"Absolument," he replied, full of confidence.

"You're not just yanking my chain?"

"Non."

"Or trying to worm your way into copping a feel tonight?"

"I wouldn't dream of trying to push you into doing something you weren't ready to do," Gambit replied firmly, although he was all for touching her if the opportunity arose. "I feel badly about this morning enough as it is."

"That wasn't your fault," Rogue said, gently sliding her hand towards him under the covers. "That was Deadpool."

"I know," he answered as his fingers found her hand and curled around it. "But if I'd just opened my eyes a little sooner—"

"You can't blame yourself for that. You said so yourself just a minute ago; you're used to being in bed with a woman you're actually having sex with," Rogue cut in. "I could be mistaken for worse things than your lover."

Gambit chuckled lightly. "I don't know, chère. With the bounty on my head, being mistaken for my lover might not be a good thing. Or, perhaps not mistaken?"

"Sure, Remy," Rogue said, taking the hint. "I'd love to go on a date with you sometime."

"Good," Gambit replied, and he lifted her hand to his lips so he could kiss the back of it. "I look forward to it."

"So do I."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

If Rogue hoped that she might wake up the next morning with hands where they shouldn't be, she was disappointed. Still, she had no complaints about finding a man in her bed, one who had asked her out on a date and was even still alive and not comatose for his trouble. Even if one date was all they ever had (and Rogue certainly couldn't imagine having more than that), she knew she'd treasure this forever.

Eventually she got out of bed and changed in the ensuite, pleased to find that the power was still on (if barely). By the time she came back out, Gambit had also gotten out of bed and she walked in on him just in time to see him pull on a fresh shirt. They moved the desk away from the door and headed downstairs.

After checking on the weather conditions, Gambit went out a window (as all the doors had snow piled up in front of them) and used his powers to quickly clear the doors and a path to the shed where they'd hurriedly stashed their snowmobiles three nights ago. By the time he returned, Logan and Deadpool were up, and Rogue had breakfast ready.

"I can't wait to get out of this place," Deadpool said between stuffing his face full of breakfast. "And Cajun, you owe me some money. I'm not leaving 'till I get my money or your head so I can get the bounty. Either way, I'm leaving."

"Relax, you'll get your cash," Gambit replied. "Decapitation will not be necessary."

"Or permitted," Rogue added with a dark glare at Deadpool.

Deadpool's only response was to shove more food in his mouth.

After breakfast, the four hurriedly cleaned up, packed what few things they'd brought with them, and occasionally checked the weather to make sure it wasn't going to start snowing on them again. Gambit packed the most, needing to take more from his 'safehouse' than he'd brought with him, including some emergency supplies.

Finally, Deadpool was ready to depart and was about to confront Gambit about his payment, when Gambit got in first and threw a bag at him.

"It's all there," Gambit said.

Deadpool looked at him, then opened up the bag and dropped it on the table to better count the cash inside. Rogue stared, and then eyed Gambit.

"You just happen to have that much cash lying around?" she queried.

"It's a safehouse. I have all sorts of emergency supplies, including cash," Gambit replied with a shrug. "Or it _was_ a safehouse. A few too many people know about it now. I think I'm going to sell it once I've done something about getting this bounty off my head."

"Sounds like a plan."

Once Deadpool was satisfied, he took off. Rogue and Logan opted to stay with Gambit and leave together. Gambit insisted they didn't have to, but the pair insisted it didn't cost anything to leave together, and in any case, between all the snow and the unfamiliar territory, travelling in numbers might be the wiser option. Gambit shrugged that off, but made no further objections. He did make it clear that while he appreciated their assistance, he had no interest in joining the X-Men at that time. Rogue merely reiterated that it was still an open invitation. She and Logan weren't all that concerned with him joining the X-men just yet: the main thing was that he had survived just like the Professor had wanted. Now, if they only knew why exactly he was so important.

Finally, Gambit finished packing and preparing the cabin for departure, and the three left. Although the cabin was a fair way from town, the trip there was thankfully uneventful. The rented snowmobiles were returned (all to the same place, as it happened), and they all headed to the same parking lot where they'd left their motorcycles, all in the same row as parking space for motorcycles was limited to that one area.

"I feel like I'm being stalked," Gambit said, only half joking.

"Yeah, well, I don't know about you, but we're headed to New York," Rogue replied with a smirk. "If we meet again, I'm going to accuse you of stalking us."

"Nah, just you, ma chère," Gambit answered with a red gleam in his eye.

Because of the limited amount of luggage they could carry on their motorcycles, packing was a simple task for Logan and Rogue, who then stalled departing by going over the route they intended to take on the way back. Gambit had a harder time of it since he'd been forced to take extra things with him from the cabin. It took some Tetris style sorting, but he got it done and he left only a couple of minutes after Rogue and Logan had finally gone.

As it turned out, those few minutes didn't really mean a whole lot. Between the fact that they were all headed to the Canadian border, and the amount of traffic congestion, they actually stayed in sight of each other most of the time. They passed each other a few times, even stopped at the same places for fuel. Come dinner time they seemed to mutually acknowledge that pretending not to know each other was silly, and ended up eating together.

After dinner, for they had all decided to put off eating until they were ready to stop for the night as well, they went to the same nearby hotel to check in. They lined up one after the other, and since there were two clerks working the desk, they both ended up being served at about the same time, and subsequently ended up in the same elevator to go to the same floor.

"Stop following me," Gambit joked as the elevator lifted.

"No, you stop following me," Rogue replied with a grin.

"Nu-uh, I was here first."

"No, I was."

"Ugh," Logan cut in. "You two have been spending too much time with Deadpool."

"Heh," Gambit replied, then nudged Rogue. "So you guys get one room or two?"

"One with twin beds," Rogue said.

"Why Rogue, you player you," Gambit teased as the elevator doors opened.

Rogue snickered as they headed down the hall. She and Logan found their room first, then Gambit continued down the hall and discovered he'd been put in the adjourning room. Upon entry to his room, he noticed that there was an adjourning door. He dropped his things on the floor and took out his lock picks as he approached the door. He picked the lock quickly, politely knocked, and then opened the door and poked his head through the gap.

"Hi neighbour, can I borrow a cup of sugar?"

Rogue and Logan looked up at him, a little startled. Logan growled and Rogue swaggered over.

"You wanna borrow a cup of sugar, eh Cajun?" she said flirtatiously, leaning up against the wall.

Gambit's eyes flickered down to her lips, and then back up to her eyes.

"Wouldn't mind borrowing you," he said.

"We're not in your damn ski cabin any more, Gumbo," Logan said before Rogue could respond, glaring at Gambit.

Gambit sighed dramatically. "It's true then? You were only using me for my body heat."

Rogue started to say something, stopped, changed her mind and replied with a grin: "Absolutely. Anything else will have to wait until after our date."

She shut the door on his grinning face. She made her way into the bathroom for a much needed hot shower, ignoring Logan's alarmed query about the very idea of Rogue going on a date with Gambit.

…...

Gambit beat Rogue and Logan up the next morning. He tossed up waiting for them, but decided it was better to keep moving. As fun as it was flirting with Rogue, he had her number, he could flirt with her any time. Getting rid of the bounty on his head was more important right now.

Logan and Rogue were a little annoyed when they realised that Gambit had gone off ahead, as they'd hoped to keep him in their sights as long as possible. Still there wasn't anything they could do about it, so they continued on their way to the Canadian border.

They travelled most of the day without incident. They looked for a place to fill up for what was anticipated to be the last time for the day, and found one. It was hard to miss it because it was right next door to a diner which was now a very active and recent crime scene. There was police and ambulance all over the place, as well as interested on-lookers.

"Here," Logan said when he and Rogue stopped to fill up. "You fill the tanks, I'll go check this out."

Rogue nodded. Gambit may have been involved, or he may not have, either way they needed to check it out to make sure. It would be a real kick in the pants if they saved him from dying in the ski cabin, only for him to meet his maker on the way home.

When Logan still hadn't returned after Rogue had finished with their motorcycles, she parked them both off to the side and went looking for him. It somehow didn't surprise her when she came across him arguing with one of the police officers, and as she approached from behind the officer, Logan spotted her. He held her gaze for a moment and tugged at his glove before turning his attention right back onto the officer so he wouldn't notice the distraction. Rogue took off her glove and successfully managed to touch the officer on the back of his neck without him noticing her arrival.

"There was a fight, five bodies on the scene," Rogue reported as she sorted through the officer's thoughts. "One was dead. The rest are in the process of being taken to hospital. One was in critical condition. Ahhh... he got to see all the bodies, Gambit wasn't amongst them."

Logan nodded. "Well, Gambit was definitely here. His scent is all over the place and that's his bike over there."

Rogue looked at where he pointed. Gambit's motorcycle was totalled but...

"No bags," she said and looked back at Logan. "His bags were stuffed full. They're not there."

Logan nodded thoughtfully.

"There's a few possibilities, but I'd say it's most likely that Gambit took off on foot and took his bags with him," he said. "In that case, I should be able to get his scent outside of the crime scene..."

Rogue followed and waited patiently while Logan did his thing, trying to find a trail of Gambit's scent. The number of fresh scents all around made it tricky, but Logan did finally find Gambit's and followed it to a darkened alley.

"Gambit," Logan said, smelling blood as well as Gambit's scent.

"I'd ask how you found me, but I think that's obvious," Gambit replied in a suspicion laden voice, only his eyes visible in the dark. "You wouldn't happen to have tipped a few people off regarding my whereabouts, hmm?"

"No," Logan said. "You can't join the X-Men if you're dead."

"Ah, but you might like to try and push me into making that decision, no?" Gambit asked. "It's win-win, is it not? Either I join you, or I'm dead."

"Nonsense," Rogue said, pushing past Logan to make her way to Gambit's side (who was much easier to see when she got closer). "You asked me out, so if you die I miss out on getting my first date. Soooo not letting you out of it that easy, Swamp Rat."

"Heh," Gambit said, a little of the suspicion dropping from his voice as Rogue knelt down beside him. "Wolverine might still consider that win-win."

"Yes, but then he would have to deal with me."

Gambit chuckled.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He looked like he was in one piece, but it was hard to tell.

"Just a few scratches," Gambit replied. "I figured I'd just lie low for a bit until the heat was off."

Logan grunted. "I'll go get our bikes and find a place to stay for the night. Rogue, you stay here."

"I don't need your help," Gambit insisted. "I can manage just fine on my own."

"Absolutely," Rogue said before Logan could respond. "Hey you've gotten this far, no reason to think you can't get further. Buuuut we are all going to the same place, the Canadian border. And these mercenaries are probably all going to be looking for an adult male, travelling alone, and probably on a motorcycle. They're not going to be looking for two men and a women travelling together."

Gambit let out a long, slow breath, during which Logan silently slipped away.

"Fine," Gambit said irritably.

…...

"You call that a scratch?" Rogue demanded.

Logan had managed to book a room in a nearby hotel, one with twin queen beds. Gambit was in the bathroom with a chair and his leg propped up on the edge of the tub, trying to clean out a nasty gash.

"I've had worse," Gambit replied in dismissal.

Rogue opened her mouth to retort, but Logan put his hand on her shoulder.

"Leave it," he said gruffly. "The guy just took out five assassins on his own, at the same time. If he says it's a scratch, it's a scratch."

Rogue grunted but fancied she actually heard a note of respect in Logan's voice for once and left Gambit alone. She stood restlessly in the room for a moment, then stormed off citing she was going to pick up dinner.

Gambit half expected for Logan to come in and made some kind of demand about not hurting Rogue, perhaps something along the lines of "you hurt her, I'll kill you myself and the bounty will be a bonus" but nothing of the sort happened. He finished cleaning and dressing his few wounds, and then headed back out into the main room. Logan was sitting on the side of one of the beds and flipping through the channels. Being in no particular mood to start up conversation, Gambit joined him.

A few minutes later, Rogue finally returned with a couple of pizzas, some garlic bread, drink, and an ice cream dessert. Rogue insisted that the dessert was just for her, and eyed off the men like she expected them to try and steal some from her. They settled down to eat and watch TV, and didn't really speak to each other.

Not until the subject of sleeping arrangements came up:

"You're sleeping with me," Logan said firmly to Gambit.

"I'm flattered, mon ami," Gambit replied slyly. "But I'm afraid I don't swing that way."

Logan growled. "You know what I mean, Gumbo. You two were already pushing your luck sleeping together in the cabin."

"It was completely worth it," Gambit replied, giving Rogue a wink.

Rogue grinned. "I think he's right, sugar. Besides, it's a little warm in here to be wearing that many layers of clothes to bed."

Gambit was sorely tempted to ask if that meant she was going to sleep naked, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He shrugged instead.

"A bed's a bed," he said. "But I'm taking the left side."

The left side had the dual benefits of being closer to Rogue and keeping his bad leg as far away from Logan as possible. He may have had worse injuries before, but that didn't mean he wanted Logan to kick his wound in his sleep with his adamantium laced leg.

…...

Rogue rolled over in her bed the next morning and looked towards Gambit asleep in the next bed. She was just contemplating getting up when Gambit opened his eyes and looked back at her. She smiled and waved with her finger. Gambit smiled back. Rogue bit her bottom lip, looked up to check on Logan, then shifted back in her bed a little. Her finger-wave turned into "come hither". Gambit grinned, glanced back at Logan, and then very quietly and smoothly slipped of out the bed he was sharing and into Rogue's.

Carefully, because both were in their pyjamas and neither were wearing gloves, Gambit slipped one hand onto Rogue's waist and laid as close next to her as he felt he could reasonably get away with, without ending up in a coma. In turn, Rogue ran her hand up to the centre of his chest. She had no idea what had possessed her to invite Gambit into her bed like this. She only knew that she liked their flirtation.

Gambit smiled and gently ran his thumb around her hip. He liked the way her face flushed at his actions. It was a shame that kissing her was out of the question, because his lips would be tightly locked with hers right now if he could. Her fingers flexed on his chest. He wanted to take her hand and either direct it somewhere else or kiss her fingers.

This no skin touching thing was turning out to be quite a tease.

He was just sliding his hand down her hip and onto her backside when Logan spoke up:

"I'm in the damn room too, you know," he said. "Knock it off or take it elsewhere."

He was not at all happy about Rogue hooking up with Gambit in any capacity, but she was a grown woman, he wasn't her father, and Professor Xavier seemed pretty convinced that they needed Gambit for something. Logan wasn't really sure how the Professor could be so convinced of that since in his future Gambit was dead, but he'd take his word for it for now. Regardless, there was only so far he'd tolerate this 'relationship'.

"I still owe you that date," Gambit said to Rogue. "How does breakfast sound?"

"You just got hit up by assassins last night," Logan said grumpily.

"Exactly, they'll have expected me to have left the area by now," Gambit replied cheerfully. "We'd be perfectly fine."

Rogue grinned. "Okay. Sounds nice. But if any assassins do show up, you owe me a second date."

…...

Logan was outside their hotel room checking over the motorcycles when Rogue and Gambit finally returned, arm in arm. He frowned when he saw them, not because of their closeness, but because they didn't smell like all they had was a leisurely breakfast date. He stood.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Got jumped by a couple of assassins," Rogue replied, then nudged Gambit. "You owe me a second date."

Logan growled. "I should call the others and get them to bring in the jet and pick us up."

"Oh no," Gambit said, holding up he free hand. "No. Absolument not. I am not the X-Men's new pet."

"Remy—" Rogue began.

"I'm going after Sibyl Zane," Gambit said firmly. "And no, you guys are not going to do it for me while you keep me prisoner in your precious little mansion for my own protection. I'm doing this myself."

"And I'm coming with you," Rogue told him.

Gambit turned a hard glare on her. "No, you're not."

"Yeah, I am," she insisted. "Because they'll be expecting you to be by yourself."

"I don't know," Logan said dubiously, feeling the need to point something out even if it was an argument in Gambit's favour: "You just got seen with him by two."

"I don't think we have to worry about them," Rogue said, waggling her fingers at Logan. "They won't be waking up any time soon."

"Let's just get across the border, okay?" Gambit said irritably.

Logan nodded. "As long as traffic's good, we should get there today. Just a matter of packing all your stuff."

It took a good deal of repacking and the purchase of a new backpack, but they finally got all their things in order. Gambit doubled with Rogue on her motorcycle (they agreed to trade-off driving), and Gambit noticed that most of his things ended up on Logan's.

They made good progress to the border, and then were held up by the long line of people trying to get into the USA. The line was such that Logan, Gambit, and Rogue got off their motorcycles and just walked them.

In Logan's opinion it would have been a lot better if they'd just called up the Blackbird. No waiting, and it wouldn't have given Rogue and Gambit quite so much time to get flirty with each other.

"I'm thinking," Gambit said while they waited, his hands resting comfortably on Rogue's hips. "Maybe you should come with me when I go after Sibyl."

"Nice to know you're seeing reason," Rogue replied.

"We'd have to get a car though."

"That would make us less obvious."

"And we should get you one of those fake pregnant bellies."

"Excuse me?" Rogue demanded. She was not wearing any such thing.

"Look, these mercs, they might figure out that I'd pick up a woman to throw them off. But they'd never expect me to pick up a pregnant woman," Gambit said gleefully. "It's perfect."

"Oh well, in that case, why don't we pick up a little kid as well," Rogue said sarcastically. "They sure wouldn't expect you to cart around a toddler."

"Nah, way too much effort," Gambit replied glibly. "And I'd feel bad if the kid got exposed to too much violence. It's such an impressionable age."

"Aww," Rogue said cynically, "and here I was, so looking forward to playing family with you."

"That's what I thought."

"I don't know, Rogue," Logan said slyly. "The pregnant belly might throw people off noticing you're all covered up."

"Yeah," Gambit said brightly. "And I'm sure I'm not the only person out there that would recognise the infamous Rogue with her white streak and gloves."

"You two are treading on very thin ice at the moment," Rogue said coldly.

"I don't know, chere," Gambit said, sliding his hands onto her stomach. "I think you'd look pretty sexy carrying my baby."

It was more the idea that he could have highly satisfying sexual relations with the untouchable woman that he found attractive. Maybe one day he'd be amenable to being a father, but certainly not now, and not with a woman he barely knew.

Rogue was not at all impressed with this remark, however, and responded by sharply elbowing him in the stomach. Unfortunately, Gambit was wearing body armour, and body armour and elbows don't exactly mix. The impact reverberated up her arm, giving her a sharp but passing stab of pain and a lingering tingling sensation.

"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing that a second time," Gambit said lazily, only slightly put off by the action.

"You're a bastard," Rogue retorted irritably, staring stonily ahead.

Gambit glanced at her, and then at Logan. "Too far?"

"Ya think?" Logan replied.

When they started getting towards the front of the queue, Gambit took out a case from one of the many inside pockets of his coat, lifted the visor of his helmet, and set about putting in a pair of full eye contact lenses.

"Smart," Logan commented.

"Well, I have to look like my passport photo," Gambit replied glibly.

He didn't mention that they blurred his vision terribly. He'd used them many times before, and while he hated them, he could manage.

Eventually they made to the check point. ID was checked over, Rogue was given a hard time for having a mononym, and finally they were given leave to re-enter the country.

They drove until they found a station to refill. While Logan and Rogue refilled their respective tanks, Gambit gratefully took the contacts back out of his eyes. Rogue grinned at him while he put the lenses away and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Those can't be comfortable," she said.

"No, they're not, but it can be hard to keep a low profile when you've got eyes like mine," Gambit replied, putting the case back in his pocket.

"I imagine it would be."

"Alright, Gumbo," Logan said. "Where do you want to go from here? You still willing for Rogue to go with you?"

"Without the fake belly," Rogue added with a pointed look at Gambit.

Gambit grinned at her. "Still need a car, and some fake ID for you, ma chere. A mononym might not be very inconspicuous. You ever think about getting a last name?"

"Had one of those once. Didn't care for it," Rogue replied with a smirk.

"We can get fake stuff done up in a pinch," Logan said slowly. "But are you sure you need to go to that much trouble? Zane's in New York, isn't she?"

Gambit shook his head.

"The MRD moved their primary base to Oklahoma, and Zane moved with them as Senator Kelly's representative," he said, and threw Logan a wink. "I think the X-Men and the Brotherhood have them running scared."

Logan and Rogue looked at each other.

"I'll call Hank," Logan said to Rogue. "Get him to make up a fake ID for you. Any name you'd prefer?"

"Jameson," Gambit cut in. "That last name will match with one of my IDs." He grinned slyly at Rogue. "You can be my wife."

"I'm overwhelmed with joy," Rogue replied blandly.

Logan grunted. "Guess we'll need wedding rings as well."

"And new clothes for both of us," Gambit added. "I somehow don't think the few clothes we have with us will be suitable for this kind of trip. Oh, and Rogue, I'm thinking since you're not going to do the belly, we should turn you into the ultimate eye candy."

Rogue raised an eyebrow as she finished filling up the tank.

"Not that you're not absolutely stunning already, but I've been known to turn a few heads myself, and I think that I'll attract less attention if you're hotter than me," Gambit explained.

Rogue snickered.

"If you want, I can lay a false trail," Logan said. "They'll be looking for a single man on a motorcycle, like we've said."

"But will they mistake you for me?" Gambit asked dubiously.

Logan smiled slyly. "What's the name of your most used fake ID?"

Gambit grinned back. "Robert Lord."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rogue was somewhat dubious about Gambit's plan to turn her into "the ultimate eye candy". For one thing, she felt that the idea was really quite subjective and one person's idea of "eye candy" could well be someone else's idea of "trashy". For another, the words "eye candy" sounded completely ridiculous coming from Gambit's lips.

She was even more concerned when Gambit decided that the first course of business was shoes, and promptly started looking for thigh high boots for her to wear.

"Trust me, ma cherie, it's perfect," he insisted when he saw the look on her face. "The trick to pulling off thigh high boots without looking like a hooker is to keep bare skin down to a minimum."

She was still uncertain about this, but at the same time she did like boots and had secretly admired Emma Frost's thigh highs. She didn't protest too much about buying a pair of black suede thigh high boots when they finally found some.

The next stop was for actual clothing. Gambit found and bought what he wanted for himself fairly quickly and then they moved on to picking out things for Rogue. Which was how Rogue found herself in the change room with a pile of clothes that Gambit had basically pushed on her, all the while muttering about how he was apparently the woman on this shopping venture.

She tried on a deep purple corset top with black laces that pushed her up and showed off almost as much cleavage as Emma Frost did. With it she wore a black pencil skirt that came down to one inch below the top of her new boots, which Gambit insisted she wear while trying on the clothes.

"Hey, Rogue, you decent?" Gambit asked from the other side of the curtain.

"Yeah, sure," Rogue replied absently.

Gambit opened up the curtain and smiled when he took in the view. He could definitely get used to seeing this for the next couple of days.

"Found you some gloves," he said, holding up a pair of deep purple opera length gloves.

"Great," Rogue said softly.

Gambit dropped the gloves on the pile, noting that Rogue's bra was sitting on top of the pile of her own clothes. He glanced at the top Rogue was wearing and figured that most of the sports bra would show if she wore it underneath that. He resisted the urge to comment.

"You look hot, chere," he said, throwing an admiring look at the mirror where he knew she'd see it.

"Glad you think so," Rogue replied cynically.

Gambit grinned and stepped back out of the cubicle. As much as he hated to admit it, travelling with someone was better than travelling alone with this bounty of his head. At the same time, he hated accepting so much help from the X-Men. No one was this helpful. Really, the only thing that tipped the balance on bringing Rogue along with him was the fact that he found her highly attractive. She was beautiful, smart, sexy, she handled herself pretty well fighting Deadpool and she held her own fighting alongside him against the assassins who had jumped them at breakfast. The whole no-touching-skin thing was a major turn on for reasons Gambit was pretty sure meant he was screwed up. There was also something alluring about being her first, and possibly her only.

Her only. He really liked that idea.

Rogue finished trying on the rest of her clothes and decided to get most of what fitted. Gambit turned out to have pretty good taste and a good eye for what would suit her, and she could see herself wearing things like these after the mission was over. She paid for everything and led the way out.

"I'm going to need, uh, new underwear," she said, heading for the store with her head held high, not really wanting to look at Gambit when she said that. But she either bought a couple of new bras now or she wore pretty much every new outfit she just bought without one.

"Okay," Gambit replied agreeably. "Well, since you're doing that, I might go pick up our rings."

They agreed on a place to meet up and went their separate ways. Rogue only really needed one new bra but while she looked around she couldn't help but pick out a few different, sexy ones to try on. She went through the nightwear as well, deciding she'd like something cooler than her thick pyjamas to sleep in. In the end she spent more money than she planned on and bought a few additional things she half-hoped Gambit would get to see her in, and half-hoped he wouldn't.

Gambit also picked up a few extra things, including a couple of travel bags since there was no way all their new clothes would fit in Rogue's motorcycle bags.

…...

Kitty frowned, looking around the food court. Rogue said she would meet her here, but Kitty couldn't see her or Gambit anywhere. Kitty would have thought with Rogue's unique hair, she would have had no problems picking her out in a crowd.

Finally she saw a gloved hand wave at her and with some relief Kitty headed over, knowing that had to be Rogue. Upon getting a better view of her friend, however, Kitty's eyes just about bulged out of their sockets. In addition to the black thigh high boots, Rogue was also wearing a pink long-sleeved mini dress with a low neckline, a pair of black gloves and a black beret.

"Wow," Kitty said as she came close. "You look... I didn't even recognise you."

"She looks hot," Gambit said, and Kitty turned to look at the man with his arm around Rogue, dressed in classic black.

"Thanks," Rogue said with a smile at him before turning her attention back to Kitty. "So, how's things been?"

"Oh good," Kitty replied, making a mental note that Logan hadn't been kidding when he said that Rogue and Gambit seemed to have hit it off. "Oh, I have your, umm, stuff."

Kitty pulled out a fat envelope from her handbag and handed it over to Rogue.

"Thanks," Rogue said as she accepted it.

"Well then, in that case I think we should get a move on," Gambit said, pulling his arm back from around Rogue and standing up. "Definitely hung around here much longer than I wanted to. How's things on the Wolverine front?"

"He's already left," Kitty told him. "He's laying a false trail to New Orleans."

"Good."

"Thanks for dropping this off, Kitty," Rogue said as she stood.

"No problem."

With Rogue's new ID organised, their next stop was the car rental, and from there they finally got on the road. Although Logan had offered the use of one of the X-Men's cars, Gambit declined, citing it would be better if they didn't drive anything that could be traced back to them. In fact, he decided it would be better if their car didn't have New York number plates at all, and with that it was decided to rent a car, drive to Ohio, and buy a car there.

Once they were finally on their way they were reluctant to stop, even for dinner, so they just went through a drive-through instead. It was some hours before they decided to stop for the night and got a room in a roadside inn. The room was small and cramped, and only had the one bed, but it was clean.

"I guess we're sharing again," Rogue said, eyeing the bed.

"Guess so," Gambit replied as he placed their bags in the corner. "Ah well, we survived the first two nights."

"That we did."

"Okay, I'm going to go have a shower," he said, pulled off his shirt, then looked at Rogue whose eyes had gone straight to his bare chest. He liked that. "Unless you wanted one first?"

Rogue shook her head. "I'll have one in the morning."

"Alright."

Rogue had expected Gambit to continue stripping off in the bathroom. It was both to her surprise and delight that he dropped his pants right in front of her. Gambit grinned when he saw the stunned look on her face.

"Figured it was about time I returned the favour," he said.

"I am not complaining," Rogue replied.

And wearing nothing but his boxers, Gambit headed into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, those came off too. He started the water and stepped into the shower.

He really liked the way that Rogue looked at him bare. It wasn't until that moment that he realised that although he'd seen her in practically nothing, the favour had yet to be returned. His mind brought back his earlier thought about being Rogue's only. Such a challenge would require more than just being Rogue's first boyfriend: he would have to steal her heart.

Steal her heart, polish it up and keep it in a place of pride in his mental museum of figurative artefacts. Yes, he would have Rogue, all of her.

Gambit finished off in the shower, dried off, and pulled his boxers back on. Upon stepping back out in the main room, he found Rogue on the bed dressed in her pyjamas, gloves and socks, watching the TV.

"Anything on?" he inquired as he dressed into his own pyjamas.

"Depends. Do you like _Police Academy_?" Rogue asked, her eyes looking between Gambit and the TV.

"It's not _Police Academy 7_ is it?" he inquired, while pretending not to notice Rogue watching him dress.

"No. It's..." Rogue frowned speculatively at the TV. "4 or 3, I think."

"Then I like _Police Academy_," Gambit said cheerfully, and lay down on the bed beside her. "7 sucks."

"Yes it does," Rogue agreed.

Gambit moved right up next to her on the bed so that their sides were touching. His hand found hers, winning a smile from her. He smiled back at her and turned his attention to the TV. There was a part of him that was sorely tempted to forget the movie and see what other fun he and Rogue could have. That part was tempered by the rest of him that wanted to romance her. There'd be time for that later.

…...

Rogue was a little bit tempted to change in front of Gambit when she woke the next morning and the sane part of her mind was relieved when she resisted. There was something rather addictive about the way he looked at her. She really wanted him to keep on looking at her like that. Instead she changed in the bathroom after her shower, and Gambit changed while she was so occupied.

After packing up and checking out of the inn, they stopped for breakfast at a quaint little cafe. The meal stretched out longer than it might have done, as they needed to return the rental car and wait for the car dealerships to open, as they'd crossed the border of Ohio the night before. Gambit didn't mind, though, it simply gave him plenty of time to work his charm.

"Let's see," Gambit said as they walked onto the car dealership, hand in hand. "We want the most discreet car we can get. I'm thinking white sedan."

"White?" Rogue queried.

"Half the cars on the road are white," Gambit replied. "I'd rather get a red one. Unfortunately everyone knows red goes faster, including the highway patrol."

They were approached by a salesman shortly after entering the lot and Rogue took on the task of negotiations. Gambit would have preferred to do that himself (or better still, just steal a car), but letting Rogue run the show was the best way for him to go on unnoticed.

It worked perfectly. Once the salesman realised that Rogue knew what she was talking about, he didn't pay any attention at all to Gambit. Gambit almost resented it, especially when he noticed the salesman checking Rogue out when he thought they weren't looking. He didn't know why the idea of another man admiring Rogue bothered him so much.

A car was decided on, the paperwork was taken care of, and soon Rogue and Gambit were finally on their way to Oklahoma. They had a long drive ahead of them, but they intended to do minimal stops along the way and decided to switch who was driving at regular intervals.

"Why do you suppose there's a bounty on your head?" Rogue asked, a couple of hours into the trip. "You said something earlier about 'cleaning house'?"

Gambit glanced over at her, then turned his eyes back to the road and shrugged. "There are some people out there who think that the best way to deal with disgruntled employees, potential leaks, and contractors they no longer have use of is to kill them. A merc's biggest threat ain't the police, it's the customers."

"Lovely," Rogue replied cynically.

"Though the way I see it, I think that applies to honest employers too," Gambit went on musingly. "I mean, look at all the people willing to sue at the drop of a hat. And then you have cheapskates who don't want to pay their invoices or who quibble over every last cent or who try to return products after they've used them or whatever. I won't sympathise about customers who rip off supermarkets via self-serve checkouts though. Those things are invitations: Please come steal from me. I want you to."

Rogue considered that for a moment, then looked at Gambit slyly and said: "And do you, career thief that you are, accept these 'invitations'?"

"All the time," Gambit replied with a grin.

"I find it ironic, you accusing other people of being cheapskates, by the way." Rogue added with a smirk.

"I have customers who try to rip me off too," Gambit said cheerfully. "It usually ends with me robbing them blind at a later date. I leave it just long enough that they think they're safe, and then just as they're relaxing... got 'em!"

Rogue chuckled.

"I'm telling you, chere. Customers are the worst," Gambit said, grinning.

"So it would seem," she said. "Are you sure that this bounty is just a case of them thinking they don't need your services anymore? Or do you think they might think you know something they don't want you to?"

Gambit shrugged. "Could go both ways. I definitely know more about them and what they're doing than I'm sure they'd want me to know. Whether they suspect that's the case or not is anyone's guess. Why the interest?"

Rogue gave a shrug. She couldn't exactly tell him that she was wondering how it was that Professor Xavier knew that they were going to need Gambit, when he was dead in Professor Xavier's future—or had been. She could only assume that Gambit had left some sort of physical evidence behind that indicated he had known something important or had access to something important.

"Curiosity. I've never met anyone with a bounty on their head before. And in my experience, when Senator Kelly is out to get someone it's because they're a mutant," Rogue said. "Though I guess that might still be applicable concerning you."

"Heh. Could be," Gambit replied with a smirk. "I don't think Sybil ever told Senator Kelly who exactly she hired to do the jobs I did, but I could see him getting upset if he knew he'd hired a mutant, if indirectly."

"Well, they can't be sure where your loyalties lie, can they?"

"Not even you can be sure where my loyalties lie, ma chere," Gambit said with a sly grin. "Sometimes I don't even know."

...

Rogue figured out she must have dozed off when she woke up sometime later on a highway she couldn't remember them turning on. As she lifted her head and resettled herself in her seat, she could see that traffic was at a stand still. She glanced at Gambit and knew even with the dark sunglasses he wore, that he was livid.

"Someone have an accident?" she asked.

"Yeah, some big accident involving half a dozen cars and a semi," Gambit said irritably. "We've been sitting around in this damn parking lot for an hour already."

A whole hour of being alone with his own thoughts while he tried not to think about how easy it would be for an assassin to just walk up to his door and shoot him in the head. Or to note that there were a couple of trunks nearby, who were at the right vantage points to shoot him without even leaving their vehicles. Or to speculate that maybe the accident wasn't really an accident and one of the emergency workers was really an assassin who was just waiting for him to drive on by for a good shot.

"Great," Rogue said.

As they sat in silence, the traffic periodically crawling forward (in spite of Gambit's comments about it being a parking lot), Gambit started thinking about Rogue. It had been awfully convenient that Rogue and Logan had known where to find him, and now they were ever-so-nicely helping him to evade people after the bounty. Maybe they really were after the bounty for themselves. Maybe Rogue was only travelling with him to Oklahoma just so that she could kill him in front of Sybil Zane and collect the money personally.

His eyes drifted over to Rogue, who was looking bored out the window. He pressed his lips together, then let out a long, slow breath and moved his eyes forward again. If the X-Men were out to kill him, they would have done it already. They could hardly guarantee that someone else wouldn't get the kill first, before they got to Oklahoma, after all. And in any case, given Senator Kelly's stance against mutants, the X-Men would have no way of knowing for certain that Sybil Zane would even honour the bounty if they used mutant powers to kill him.

Gambit shook his head, trying to push away his suspicious thoughts about Rogue and the X-Men. He couldn't shake the feeling that they still had some ulterior motive, but he also knew that being stuck on the highway was really pulling a number on his anxiety levels. He felt like a sitting duck.

"Did you want to trade places?" Rogue asked after awhile. "You've been driving for awhile now."

"No!"

Rogue stared in surprise at the force of his objection. "Ooookay..."

Gambit closed his eyes and sighed. "Desole. I don't want to get out of the car where everyone can see us. I haven't brushed my hair in hours, so it probably looks terrible."

Rogue cracked a grin. "And you haven't done your make up either."

"Right," Gambit said with a nod. "Plus it's been ages since I last shaved my legs."

"Me too, actually," Rogue replied mischievously. "You know, just in case it wasn't obvious when we played strip poker."

"I can't say I remember looking at your legs,"

"You boys did seem pretty impressed by my boobs."

"Of course. You have great boobs," Gambit said enthusiastically, grateful for the distraction from his anxious thoughts. "They're just so big and squishy. I wanna bury my face in them."

Rogue laughed and Gambit mentally winced. He was quite sure that this wasn't the way to steal Rogue's heart from her.

"Well, maybe if you play your cards right, I might let you," she said.

"Oh? I'm good at cards."

"I know."

He grinned and reached over to take her hand. "When this is all over, I'm going to take you on a proper romantic date, ma chere. And I promise it'll be without any expectation of getting into your pants after. Or your shirt."

"That's good. I'm not sure that you'd fit in my pants," Rogue replied with a smirk, and eyed his torso thoughtfully. "And I don't think my shirt would fit you either."

Gambit chuckled. "You may be right."

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. Rogue's smirk became a flattered smile.

"You sure you don't want to switch?" Rogue asked him as she drew her hand back. "We don't have to leave the car. One of us could climb into the back seat."

Gambit looked hesitant, and he glanced at the back seat.

"Or for that matter, you could get into the back seat and just stay there and try to get some sleep," Rogue went on.

He didn't reply at first. She was right in that he had been driving for awhile and he did want a break. On the other hand, he was so wound up from anxiety at the moment he wasn't sure he could sleep.

"Well," he said finally. "I suppose it would make it harder for any assassins to know which car I'm in if they can't see me, right?"

Rogue raised her eyebrows. "Right."

He threw a sheepish grin at her. "That probably sounds really paranoid, huh? Worry that someone's just going to walk up to the car and shoot me in the head."

"It's not paranoia if people really are out to get you, sugar," Rogue replied solemnly.

Gambit didn't know he would feel so relieved that Rogue had taken him seriously and hadn't made fun at all. He gave her a nod, then started to climb into the back seat.

"I'll just linger here a bit and let you admire my ass," Gambit said when he was halfway through the climb, with his backside poking out between the two front seats.

Rogue chuckled and gave his behind a whack. "Get moving, buddy."

"Ooh, she touched me," Gambit said with cheeky delight.

He pulled himself the rest of the way through, and as he laid down on the back seat, Rogue climbed over into the driver's seat. She took a moment to check the mirrors and surrounding traffic as she prepared herself to take over driving. Not that the traffic was actually moving at that moment.

"Hmm," Rogue murmured in consideration.

She took off her opera-length gloves, and then opened up the window and rested her door-side arm on the ledge. Gambit looked at her curiously. It was a little chilly outside, not badly so, but enough.

"Feeling hot, chere?" he asked her.

"A little. But mostly I think that if someone did decide to walk up to the car and shoot me in the head, I'd stand a much better chance of surviving if I could grab them with my bare hand," Rogue replied seriously. "Preferably before they shoot."

Gambit hoisted himself up on his elbow and looked hard at her. After a moment's study he decided that Rogue was actually taking his concerns seriously and not mocking him.

"Ye-eah," he said slowly. "I guess you would at that."

He laid back wondering about the mess he was making of his plans to steal Rogue's heart. What must she think of him right now? Hiding in the back seat of the car like a frightened child? Okay sure, getting into the back seat had been Rogue's idea, not his, but that was hardly the point. He felt like he was seeing danger lurking everywhere and she was just humouring him. He was actually feeling relieved that they'd been set upon by assassins their last morning in Canada because at least then he felt like there was some substance to his current worries.

Gambit was jostled a little as the traffic moved, and then stopped again.

About an hour after they'd swapped seats, Rogue was really starting to feel the cold. She wanted to do the window up again, but she was feeling just as nervous about assassins as Gambit was. There was no guarantee whatsoever that her life would be spared by anyone after Gambit. She both hated that Gambit brought up the idea of someone walking up to them in the backed up traffic, and was relieved he had. The idea hadn't occurred to her, and she could have easily gone on without a care in the world. Now she felt aware, and a lot more prepared for trouble should it come up.

"Remy?" Rogue said.

"Yeah?" Gambit asked, moving his eyes from the ceiling to Rogue.

"Can you get the long-sleeved red shirt out of my bag?" she asked. "I'm starting to get cold."

Gambit chuckled and reached for Rogue's bag where it was stashed on the floor. "Sure thing."

He opened up her bag, rifled through the clothes until he found the shirt in question, and zipped the bag back up. As he held the shirt out to her, his eyes fell on Rogue's torso, bare except for her bra. His eyes locked onto her breasts for a moment.

"Thanks," Rogue said, exchanging the red shirt for the short-sleeved one she had been wearing.

Gambit jerked his eyes up to her eyes as the shirts were switched. "No problem."

Rogue grinned knowingly at him, and then turned to face the front and put her long-sleeved shirt on. Gambit watched for a moment, then put her worn short back into her bag and relaxed back on the seat, his mind filled with the memory of the glorious vision he'd just been blessed with.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Gambit woke up on the backseat of the car, feeling cramped from the close quarters. He sat up, observing that it was dark and that they were headed down a main road with relatively little traffic on it. Rogue spotted him in the rearview mirror as he sat up.

"Hey," she said. "Have a good nap?"

"Well, I napped," Gambit replied, feeling like an old man saying that. "Don't know about the 'good' part though."

Rogue chuckled.

"We need to get more gas," she said. "Wanna switch then? I could really do with some coffee."

"Sure."

Rogue pulled into the first service station she found. She filled up, then went inside to pay and get coffee and snacks. While she was so occupied, Gambit climbed into the front seat. Rogue returned in due course and Gambit watched thoughtfully as she put their coffee cups into the cup holders.

"You made this yourself?" he asked her as she settled into her seat.

"Huh?"

"The coffee. You used the self-serve, right?"

Rogue frowned. "Yeah..."

Gambit was quiet for a moment, then took a sip of his coffee. The heat and the jolt of energy was just what he needed. He put the cup back into the cup holder and started the car.

"I think from now on we should stick with pre-packaged food and not buy anything we can't watch being cooked or don't cook ourselves," Gambit said as they drove off. "And when we do buy food, don't let it out of our sight until we're done eating."

Rogue considered Gambit thoughtfully. "You think someone might try to poison us?"

"Maybe. Poison isn't usually the weapon of choice for an assassin, but it can happen. You're actually more likely to be poisoned by someone you trust than a complete stranger, just because of the difficulties in actually getting the poison into their system," Gambit said. "But given the size of the bounty on my head and the fact that I put up more of a fight than their usual targets, I don't think it would be wise to dismiss the possibility."

"No, probably not," Rogue said.

She could see how poison might be a perfectly valid means of killing Gambit, had he been alone. Perhaps it was cliché, but all he had to do was run into the wrong femme fatale. After all, she had had plenty of opportunities to kill Gambit, if she had been so inclined.

"Plus it's possible that some of them might figure that I'll go after Sybil Zane, if they don't think I'm going to ground," Gambit went on. "In which case Oklahoma might be full of assassins just waiting for me to show my face."

"And already set themselves up in places they suspect you'd be likely to go," Rogue finished with a nod. "Like a hotel near the MRD base."

"I was thinking more along the lines of tracking down known Thieves Guild contacts, but that works too," Gambit said.

"Thieves Guild," Rogue repeated slowly, looking idly out the windows as they drove in the dark, the street lights and car lights flashing by them. "What are they doing in all of this?"

Gambit was quiet for a moment.

"In the rare occasions a bounty is put on the head of one of their members, the Thieves Guild assumes that none of their secure lines are secure and they do what they can to get the bounty lifted," Gambit replied. "But I'm not expecting any help from them. For that matter, we can't be sure if this hit is all Sybil Zane's idea or if she's just a middleman. What we really need to find out is who's actually putting up the money for the hit. The money is the key. If there's no money, there's no hit."

"Oh? So when we catch up to Sybil, we're going to need to extract information, huh?" Rogue asked with a sly grin. "Good thing you brought me along."

Gambit shot a look at her. He hadn't actually thought that far ahead, intending to use one of his usual methods to get the information he needed. But Rogue was right, she was perfect for the job. That changed matters.

"Yeah, good thing," Gambit said slowly. "That makes things easier, actually. They won't be on the look out for you to approach Sybil. You could even do it in a social situation, rather than a work one."

"If I'm going to absorb her in public, we need to cover up the fact that she's been absorbed, one way or another," Rogue warned him. "Coma, remember?"

Gambit nodded and was about to respond when he noticed the traffic ahead of them was backed up a little. It took him a moment to realise why: there were police not far ahead and it looked like they were doing random breath testing. He swore under his breath, noting there was no way for him to pull over so he could switch places with Rogue again.

While Gambit mentally begged that they wouldn't get pulled over, he pulled out the case for his contact lenses and started hurriedly putting them in, just in case they were. Putting them in was difficult at the best of times, but putting them in while trying to drive and only having a limited window of opportunity to do so was even more troublesome. He had made a point of practicing putting in the full contacts lenses in, especially for emergencies like this, but he still hated having to do it.

Much to Gambit's annoyance, the police did decide to pull them over for a test. He pulled over, feeling as he did so, that he hadn't taken as much care with the contacts as he should have: they weren't sitting quite right. He rubbed his eyes as the officer approached his window, hoping to fix them, but to no avail.

"Evening officer," Gambit said with a slight yawn, intending to play 'tired driver' to the hilt if he had to.

"Had anything to drink tonight?" the officer asked.

"Just coffee," Gambit replied.

Gambit went through the breath test without any other problems, and soon they were free to leave. Gambit prepared to turn back into traffic cursing the necessity to have to put the lenses in and feeling like he wasn't free to take them back out just yet. They made it difficult for him to see properly, and he needed to be extra careful when pulling back out into the street.

"Rogue," Gambit asked tersely, "is there a place coming up where we can pull over?"

Rogue glanced at him, then up along the street. "Not that I can see. Are you okay?"

"I need to take my contacts out," Gambit said, blinking as his eyes watered uncomfortably. "And I need both hands to do it."

He was only keeping them on the road by looking at the lights, using them as a guide to where the road was. The contacts weren't sitting correctly, one of the hazards of putting them in at speed, and the level of discomfort made it highly difficult for him to even keep his eyes open.

Rogue looked between Gambit and the road ahead of them, his words ringing in her ears. Seeing him start to veer off-course, Rogue grabbed the steering wheel and straightened them out. Gambit cursed, feeling the car jerk.

"Take them out," Rogue said, her eyes firmly on the road as she concentrated to keep them on course from the passenger seat.

Gambit needed no further prompting. He released the wheel and set about removing the contacts from his eyes as quickly as possible. He located the case by feel and memory, and put them away while his eyes continued to water.

"You right?" Rogue asked, seeing him set the case aside out of the corner of her eye.

He hated having to say it but, "no. And there's no way I can drive right now."

"Alright," Rogue said. "As soon as I—ease up on the gas—as soon as I see a spot where we can pull over, we're pulling over."

"Sorry you didn't get more of a break," Gambit replied apologetically.

"These things happen."

Fortunately, a place to pull over wasn't all that far away. Enough of Gambit's vision came back that he was able to make up for some of the problems that arose in Rogue attempting to talk him through the park with her hands still on the wheel. It was a clumsy parking job, but it was sufficient for their needs. Rogue and Gambit switched seats again, and Rogue drove off while Gambit leaned back in his seat with his eyes mercifully closed.

Rogue continued to drive until they reached the nearest motel, at which point they agreed that stopping for the rest of the night was in their best interests. Gambit waited in the car while Rogue organised a room.

He felt so frustrated. Ever since he'd made his decision to steal Rogue's heart, he'd been nothing but weak and insecure in front of her. He'd allowed his anxiety about the bounty on his head get out of his control, then the incident just moment ago with his eyes. They still ached. And on top of all that, Rogue was the one going out and buying the food and everything, while he stayed in the car or otherwise did his best to keep a low profile. She probably felt like she was his babysitter.

A few minutes later, Rogue returned to the car.

"We're in Unit 7," she told him as she started the car up again.

They drove the short distance to the unit. Gambit took it upon himself to grab all their bags while Rogue unlocked the door and turned on the lights.

"Oh good," Rogue said, while holding the door open for Gambit. "Two beds this time."

He knew that the reason for her relief was because of her mutation, but Gambit couldn't help but feel like it was a slight against him.

"You can have the bathroom, if you want it," he said.

"You didn't need it first?" Rogue asked cautiously. "To wash your eyes or something?"

"Nah, they're doing a good job of that on their own," Gambit assured her, while feeling annoyed about Rogue pitying him. He did not want the woman he was trying to seduce feeling sorry for him. "Go ahead."

"Thanks."

Rogue grabbed a few things from her bag and went into the bathroom to answer the call of nature and change clothes. After stripping off her day wear, Rogue realised she hadn't taken any clean underpants out of her bag. The nightgown she was wearing was short-sleeved and came down to just below her behind. If she moved the wrong way it would be very easy to flash Gambit in it. After a moment's consideration, Rogue decided not to worry about it. The hassle of dashing out to grab a clean pair from her bag and hurriedly putting them on seemed like too much effort, especially considering she would be spending most of the time under her covers.

She gathered up her things and left the bathroom. Her eyes fell on Gambit, who was stretched out on one of the beds, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. He lifted the arm that had been resting over his face as Rogue dropped her things on top of and next to her bag. Rogue could feel his eyes on her legs, just as her own eyes were looking over his bare chest.

As Gambit watched Rogue walk over to the bed, he found himself feeling very happy that there were two beds after all, especially when she leaned over to pull the covers back on her bed. The back of her nightgown lifted up just enough to give Gambit a glimpse of her behind. Then she climbed into bed and pulled the covers over herself, and that was all the view he got.

"Have I mentioned how incredibly sexy I think you are?" Gambit asked.

Rogue chuckled and grinned at him. "Yes, but feel free to tell me again."

"Well, then, you know the saying 'a sight for sore eyes'?"

"Yes."

"Speaking as someone who has sore eyes right now, there is nothing or no one else I would rather be looking at right now than you," Gambit said with a hint of mischief. "In fact, I do believe my eyes are already starting to feel so much better now they're gazing upon your exquisite beauty."

"Oh really?" Rogue replied slyly. "Well, what did we bother hiring this room for? I could have just flashed you in the car and you would have been good to drive."

Gambit licked his lips at the thought.

"Yes, but for how long?" he said smoothly. "There's no such thing as a quick fix, ma chere. Why, you would have had to flash me again half an hour later."

Rogue laughed. "I'm sure that would have been very burdensome for you."

"Exactly, with all that pulling over."

"Maybe I should have just taken my shirt off and left it off."

"Then we'd definitely get in an accident because I would be way too enraptured looking at your breasts to even consider driving."

"That didn't seem to bother you during the poker game," Rogue teased him.

Gambit paused. He supposed that was technically true.

"Well, why else do you think I went to so much trouble to win your clothes?" he replied.

"Because you secretly want to wear women's clothing?" Rogue suggested.

"Because I couldn't stand having to share the view of your wondrous beauty with others, and needed to have you all to myself," Gambit said, considered for a moment, then queried: "That sounded a little stalkery, didn't it?"

Rogue chuckled. "Yeah, just a bit. But I'll take it in the spirit it was intended: You're just talking out of your ass about my looks and the effect they have on yourself."

"Talking out my ass? You wound me," Gambit replied in mock-offence. "Exaggerate, yes. Wax poetic, maybe on a good day. But talk out my ass? Never."

"Wax poetic?" Rogue asked, looking highly amused at the idea. "Is that what you call it?"

"Looking into your eyes is like looking into the vast expanse of the ocean," Gambit replied whimsically. "They sparkle like the light of the sun and moon shine on the surface."

Rogue groaned with laughter and buried her face in her hands.

"They hold within them the promise of excitement and adventure. The lure of exploring the unknown. Life can never be boring with you, nor can you ever be tamed," Gambit went on, amusing himself as much as Rogue. "And it would never be wise to anger you, for your rage will be fierce and destructive, just as a storm on the seas."

"Did you get this out of a book or something?" Rogue asked teasingly, having rather enjoyed his analogy, even if she thought it was cheesy. "Also, when you started talking about my eyes, I thought you were going to compare them to emeralds."

"Pfft, emeralds. Lifeless, cold, and heartless things, and given value greater than their true worth. Material possessions have no soul, ma chere. I would feel it would be a grave insult were I to ever compare the eyes of one so spirited as you, to mere chunks of rock," Gambit said, then added with a grin. "Plus that would have been cliché."

Rogue laughed, and then yawned.

"Am I keeping you up?" Gambit asked her.

"It's fine. I'm too awake to go to sleep right now," she said, waving a hand in dismissal. "I like your eyes too, by the way."

Gambit blinked in surprise. His eyes had been known to scare and intimidate, but until that moment, the closest he'd ever gotten to someone saying "I like your eyes" was "There's nothing wrong with your eyes," which wasn't quite the same thing.

"You do?" he asked.

"Sure," Rogue said, and a gleeful smirk crossed her face. "Looking into your eyes is like looking into a volcano."

Gambit burst out laughing.

"It's a little scary and uncertain, but in all the good ways. You don't know if or when everything is going to erupt in your face, or if you'll get away with it. And it's hot," Rogue said, and fanned herself for emphasis. "Oh so very hot."

"Plus the hot springs are amazing," Gambit added with a grin.

"Naturally. Plus volcanic soil is really fertile so it—" Rogue began, only to be cut off by Gambit's snort of laughter, and she realised how what she just said sounded. "It's really good for growing plants. Stuff gets done. Shut up. I didn't mean it like that."

"I can honestly say that no one has ever connected my eyes with my fertility before, chere," Gambit replied teasingly.

"Don't let it get to your head."

He chuckled and resisted the urge to comment that it may be too late for that. Rogue yawned again.

"I think I will try to get some shut-eye now," she said sleepily.

"Alright," Gambit said.

He got off his bed, and stood at Rogue's side. As he leaned over Rogue, he took the edge of the sheet in his hand, and used it as a barrier so he could touch her cheek.

"All joking aside," he said softly. "I do find you most beautiful, ma chere."

"Well, I would hope so, after how insistent you were in turning me into the 'ultimate eye candy'," Rogue retorted.

"Heh. Rogue, there is no way I would have agreed to let you come with me based on your looks, although that is a nice perk," Gambit replied seriously. "I would have left you faster than you could blink if I didn't think you were capable of handling yourself. But you got into a fistfight with Deadpool, and that other morning when we got attacked at breakfast... You were amazing."

"Well, it's amazing the things you learn how to do to survive," Rogue replied, not really sure what to make of what Gambit was saying.

"This is unfortunately true," Gambit replied agreeably, and then leaned over further to kiss her cheek. "Good night, Roguey."

"Good night Remy."

As Rogue settled under the covers, filled with mixed feelings about his words, Gambit switched off the lights and got into his own bed. He was far too awake to go to sleep right now, although he knew he would eventually get some sleep. Instead his mind lingered on thoughts of Rogue, before moving onto the matter of the bounty.

There were only a few hours away from Oklahoma. Once there they needed to track down exactly where Sibyl Zane was, a task that would be much easier said than done, even if he did know where the MRD base was. He closed his eyes and mentally ran over the list of things he knew about Sybil Zane, determined to find the key to eking out her location.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Rogue woke first the next morning. She rolled over to face Gambit, who was sprawled across his bed. She watched him sleep for a time, but aside from that being rather dull, she started to get hungry. Quietly, she got out of bed and headed to her things, taking advantage of Gambit being asleep to get changed then and there, rather than going into the bathroom.

Gambit, who had been woken up by Rogue's movement, tried and failed to look away while Rogue dressed just in his line of sight. He watched through half-closed eyes as Rogue left their unit, and then a moment later, his phone informed him he had a new text message. Grumpily, Gambit reached over for his phone and saw a message from Rogue: "Gone to get breakfast, bbs". He sighed, put his phone back down, and closed his eyes again while visions of Rogue's naked body danced through his mind.

To Gambit it felt like it had only been five minutes, but was in fact, closer to an hour when Rogue returned. He hoisted himself up on his elbows as Rogue put the bags down on the table.

"Hey sugar," she said. "Have a good sleep?"

"Mmhmm," he murmured in reply.

"All pre-packaged stuff," Rogue went on, "and never let any of it out of my sight once I picked it off the shelf. Good thing there's a microwave in here."

Gambit grinned and lazed around in bed while Rogue unpacked things and heated up their food. Only when everything appeared to be ready did he finally motivate himself to get out of bed. Rogue, sitting at the table with a plate of microwave-heated, pre-packaged pancakes and maple syrup, glanced over at Gambit as he came across and her eyes almost immediately locked in on the obvious bulge in his boxer shorts. Her mind immediately went to their first morning together in Canada when they woke up after having their hands and bodies strategically placed by Deadpool. The memory of having her hand over Gambit's crotch while he rocked his pelvis into it was engraved in her mind.

The table cut off Rogue's view as Gambit took his seat and his lower half disappeared under it. Rogue only then realised she had been staring and turned her attention back to the maple syrup bottle, which was still pouring syrup over her pancakes. Fortunately, the nozzle was narrow, so not as much extra syrup was on her pancakes as there could have been. She hurriedly turned the bottle upright and set it on the table. Gambit picked it up with a sly smile.

"Distracted by something, chere?" he drawled.

Rogue wouldn't meet his eyes, glad to have the excuse of her breakfast to look at, and replied: "Yeah. Turns out the circus is in town."

Gambit's smile became a grin. "Oh? You like the circus?"

"Um, sure," Rogue said and quickly ate some pancake.

"Care to go to a show?" he asked with a teasing twinkle in his eye as he poured maple syrup over his own pancakes.

Rogue swallowed her food. "I dunno, Swamp Rat. Will there be popcorn?"

"Possibly," Gambit replied wickedly. "Actually, last time I was at a circus, there were carnival games. I could win you a prize."

"What? You don't think I could win one myself?" Rogue asked with a challenging look.

"You're more than welcome to try," Gambit said, setting aside the maple syrup bottle while keeping his eyes on Rogue. "In fact, you strike me as a faster learner. I bet you could be winning prizes in no time."

"Thank you for recognising that fact. Now the question remains," Rogue said, pointing her pancake-laden fork at Gambit, "do I really want so many cheap and flimsy prizes?"

Gambit burst out laughing. Rogue grinned at him, pleased that she'd managed to get the upper hand after having been caught staring.

They made short work of breakfast, then packed up their things.

"Do you mind driving, chere?" Gambit asked her as they made their way back to the car after checking out of the motel. "I want to do some research while we go."

"No, that's fine," Rogue replied, veering for the driver's seat door. "Research?"

Gambit held up his phone. "Trying to locate Sybil Zane."

"Ah, yeah, good idea," Rogue said, grinning. "It would make it a lot easier to absorb her if we know where she is."

Gambit chuckled and agreed. They got into the car and continued on their way. Oklahoma was only a few hours away.

* * *

><p>They stopped for fuel just short of the Oklahoma border. After filling up the car, Rogue headed inside to pay for the fuel and pick up more foodstuffs for the trip. She was in the middle of paying for everything, when someone came running in from the outside up to the counter.<p>

"Hey, no cutting," someone behind her in the line objected.

"There's a costume outside," the runner hissed at the cashier.

Both Rogue and the cashier looked through the glass doors, and saw a man in a blue spandex outfit, calmly filling up his motorcycle at the pump behind Rogue's car. There was a picture of a bullseye on his suit where it covered his forehead. Rogue didn't know who he was, but suspected it was safe to say he wasn't one of the good guys.

Gambit saw him in the mirror and knew exactly who it was. Bella Donna used to take great pleasure in telling him all about Bullseye, the assassin who, she insisted, was even more accurate than himself, at least until his losing streak against Daredevil started. Gambit touched his staff and cards, but took neither out of his coat, and simply sat at the ready to move if he needed to. It would be harder to get him while he was in the car. The minute he stepped out, he would be an easy target. Besides, for all he knew, Bullseye had no idea he was even there.

Rogue finished the transaction quickly while those around her murmured anxiously. One person even put down their purchases and returned outside to pay for the fuel at the pump so they could leave as quickly as possible. Rogue couldn't blame them. "Costumes" had a reputation for leaving destruction in their wake. As she headed for the door, she saw Bullseye heading towards the store.

"Hi darling," Bullseye greeted Rogue, stopping at her side within line-of-sight of Gambit.

Rogue, not sure whether they were in trouble, or if he was just admiring her good looks, made a point of running her eyes over him before responding flirtatiously: "Hey yourself, sugar."

"Maybe you can help me," he said, and with a flick of his wrist, a shuriken appeared in his hand. "I'm looking for someone."

"Funny you should mention that," Rogue replied, now certain they'd been found (although why Bullseye was talking to her and not going directly after Gambit, she didn't know). "I'm looking for someone too. Tall. Handsome." She looked at the shuriken and subtly moved in closer to him. "Deadly."

A smirk appeared across Bullseye's face as he looked down on her.

"I don't think you appreciate just how deadly I can be," he said, his smirk broadening as Rogue ran her gloved hands up his chest.

"Why don't you show me?" she asked suggestively.

Rogue didn't appreciate until much later that those words probably hadn't been the best choice, for as she grabbed Bullseye's face and pulled it down so she could kiss him, he threw his shuriken with sufficient force to break through the car window. Gambit's excellent reflexes were the only thing that saved him, for as the window shattered into pieces, Gambit lifted his retracted staff into the shruiken's path and neatly deflected it.

Bullseye's body dropped to the ground after Rogue felt she had absorbed him long enough to keep him out for the count for a few days. Bullseye's sadistic personality caused Rogue to shudder in disgust. Gambit leaned over to look at her through the broken window to tell her to stop just standing here, that they needed to leave now, but before he could even open his mouth, the windscreen shattered. He turned his face away and covered his head out of reflex as a sai embedded itself in his seat. If he hadn't moved at that very moment...

Rogue turned at the sound of the windscreen smashing and her eyes lay upon a woman with black hair, dressed in all red: boots, loincloth, corset top, and hat. Bullseye's memories told Rogue that this was Elektra. Rogue ran to intercept her before she could throw her second sai.

At the same moment, Gambit threw a low-charged card at Elektra, enough to distract her without setting anything on fire. Rogue, not being familiar with Gambit's fighting style, pulled up sharply before her momentum carried her too close to the explosion, not realising that it was relatively harmless. Thanks to Bullseye's psyche, however, Rogue was well-versed in _Elektra's_ fighting style, and was able to dodge's Elektra's first strike before she even saw it coming.

Rogue grabbed Elektra's sai-wielding arm, and Elektra kicked Rogue in the face with all the grace and flexibility of a professional dancer. Rogue just managed to avoid the worst of the attack and Elektra evaded Rogue's retaliatory elbow strike.

Gambit got out of the car and extended his staff, but he didn't jump into the fight straight away. This was partly because he didn't see a good opening, but mostly because he liked watching two highly trained, female combatants fighting each other. It was just so much sexier when they weren't trying to be sexy.

Elektra spied Gambit watching out of the corner of her eye and manoeuvred her fight with Rogue so that Rogue was no longer between herself and Gambit. With the agility of a cat, Elektra whirled away from Rogue, twisted and leapt through the air towards Gambit. Her sai clashed with Gambit's staff (he was no so enamoured with the good viewing that he was incapable of responding with his usual fast reflexes).

"Bonjour chere," Gambit greeted her. "Long time no see."

Elektra gave him a tight smile as they began their bout.

"It has indeed," she purred. "And how is Bella Donna these days?"

"You probably know better than me," Gambit replied, deflecting her sai again.

"Oh that's right," Elektra said between strikes. "The marriage fell through, didn't it?"

Rogue paused briefly in her step. Marriage?

Gambit, finding himself back against the car, jumped backwards onto the hood. Elektra's sai met his boots but caused no harm.

"It wouldn't have worked anyway," Gambit replied jovially, not really wanting to hurt Elektra but knowing he didn't have much choice if he wanted to continue living. "What can I say? It would've been like living with a slow poison."

Elektra didn't respond and jumped up onto the hood with him. Her eye flickered toward her second sai, the one she'd thrown earlier that was still stuck in Gambit's seat. As she fought with Gambit, she manourvered them around so that she could retrieve her sai, but before she could get her hand around the knuckle, Rogue pulled it out herself. Elektra pulled back before Rogue could strike her.

"This your new girlfriend?" Elektra asked of Gambit, as their fight took them onto the roof of the car. "I like her."

"Yeah. I'm pretty fond of her myself," Gambit replied.

"Aww, I'm touched," Rogue said, following them up on the car wielding Elektra's second sai.

"By the way," Elektra went on, ignoring Rogue's words, but not her actions, not intending Rogue's bare head to get anywhere near any of her bare skin. "You have a type."

"Of course I have a type, chere," Gambit said, as he backed off, trying to keep Elektra at a distance with his staff and hoping to either disable Elektra or give Rogue an opening to use her powers. "Female, breathing, and of age."

"You forgot 'and can kick your arse'," Elektra replied with a smirk.

"Ain't it against the ninja code to talk during a fight?" Gambit chided her, whipping out a playing card with the intention to getting more distance between them.

"I make an exception for you."

As Gambit was charging the card, Rogue lunged at Elektra from the side. Elektra, whose thighs, arms, face, and shoulders were bare, dodged Rogue immediately, not wanting to end up like Bullseye. Her lack of care in which way she went sent her into Gambit's arm and almost off the edge of the car. The action jolted Gambit hard, sending a far greater charge into the card than he planned and knocking it out of his hands. The card went flying into the pumps.

As the pumps exploded, Gambit grabbed onto Elektra, jerking her back from face-planting into the flames. Rogue pulled them both back, sending all three toppling off the other side of the car and hitting the ground hard. Rogue inadvertently got her chance to absorb Elektra, as the assassin's arm had landed in her face on the way down. As Rogue pulled Elektra away from the fast growing fire, Gambit swore and ran for the car even as it began to burn.

Rogue didn't realise at first what Gambit had done. She was more concerned with getting Elektra out of harm's way. Only when she had dragged the assassin well back from the station did Rogue remember Bullseye, but he had been close to the store where she'd left him. Rogue hoped that he, and everyone in the store, would be alright. She was sure that someone had already called the fire department at least, if not the cops as well the moment the fight started.

Gambit emerged from the flames and billowing black smoke carrying their bags. Rogue stared at him as he hurriedly approached, astounded at his actions.

"Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed. "You went back to get our clothes? Are you insane?"

"Hey, maybe your bag just has clothes, but mine doesn't," Gambit replied defensively, and nodded towards Elektra. "How long she going to be out?"

"A few days, and don't change the subject," Rogue snapped at him, jabbing him in the chest with a couple of fingers. "Material possessions are not worth your life, you little idiot! You could have died!"

"You don't understand," Gambit replied angrily. "I have irreplaceable stuff in here—"

"_You_ are irreplaceable!" Rogue shouted.

Gambit stared at her. Once again Rogue was saying things to him, things she obviously meant, that no one had ever said to him before. Things he never even dreamed anyone would consider saying.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Rogue went on, oblivious to Gambit's surprise as she jabbed him in the chest again. "You hear me, Swamp Rat?"

Gambit captured her hand in his, and kissed her fingers gently.

"I hear you," he assured her, "but we really should get going."

Rogue nodded and grabbed her bag from Gambit. She looked down at Elektra.

"You think she's far enough away?" she asked. She didn't want anyone to die because she'd rendered them unconscious at a critical moment.

"Yeah, yeah, she'll be fine," Gambit said, anxious to get away before any more assassins found them. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

><p>Rogue and Gambit made good time to the nearest populated area. As they walked, Gambit pulled out his spare pair of sunglasses (the pair he had been wearing came off during the fight and had been left in the car), and sent a coded message to a friend of his.<p>

"Any ideas how they found us?" Gambit asked Rogue once he finished sending the message.

"Not sure. They both got the tip off about your safe house," Rogue replied. "Elektra heard about the Robert Lord sightings, but she didn't believe you'd be stupid enough to go to New Orleans. Something about a wedding and getting kicked out of the Guild?"

Rogue eyed Gambit curiously. Gambit looked straight at the strip mall in front of them.

"Okay, well, that might explain Bullseye too. He always researches his target. Well, mostly, since he obviously didn't know not to touch you," Gambit said, his eyes taking in the stores available.

"Yeah, he figured I was just another one of your floozies," Rogue confirmed. "That's why he waited until he was standing with me before he made his move—he didn't want you to have an opening to throw an explosive card at him. He, uh, knew you would be too 'weak' to risk harming me too."

Gambit scowled.

"But we are talking about the thoughts of a sadist," Rogue went on, feeling a little awkward. "Anyway, like I said, he didn't know who I was. The X-Men didn't even cross his mind, not that I caught anyway. They both found out who the client was and decided you'd go after Sybil. Beyond that, I'm not sure how they found us exactly, but Bullseye knew for certain you were in the car."

"Damn," Gambit muttered. "And sooner or later, they're going to catch up with Logan and realise he's not me, and suspect the X-Men might be involved..."

"I'd dye my white streak, but dye never holds," Rogue said ruefully, with a glance towards the hairdresser coming up on their right.

"It's fine, just need to find a new way to hide," Gambit said. "With any luck, anyone on our tail will think we died in a fire."

"Yeah, about that, just what the hell were you thinking anyway? Charging cards near gas," Rogue demanded irritably.

"That wasn't supposed to happen. I was only doing small charges, enough to blow the card into pieces and not much more," Gambit replied sullenly. "Or at least that was the idea. Elektra startled me. That second one wasn't meant to be that big."

"You shouldn't be letting off explosions near gas at all!"

"I know what I'm doing, I set off charges near flammable materials all the time," Gambit insisted. "Accidents happen, okay? Like you've never had an accident with your powers."

"At least I don't go around inviting them to happen!"

Gambit opened his mouth to make a comment about her getting naked during their game of strip poker, when he saw a rack of sunglasses on display outside one of the stores. His retort was forgotten as he picked up a pair with red lenses and a flash of brilliance came to him.

"Do these look anything like what Cyclops might use in his off hours?" he asked.

Rogue frowned at the glasses, annoyed about the change of subject. "No."

Gambit put the pair back, the gestured to another. "What about those?"

"They're about the same frame but... You're never going to find a pair just like what he wears," Rogue said irritably. "The lenses are made out of ruby quartz, not red coloured glass. They look very different."

"Would the average person be able to tell the difference?" Gambit persisted, knowing that people often only saw what they expected to see.

Rogue pursed her lips. "At first glance? Probably not. What's this about?"

Gambit idly continued to look through the sunglasses display. "Well, it occurs to me that if someone was anticipating that there might be more X-Men around assisting me, then it might be best if they mistook me for one of the X-Men too. And if memory serves, Cyclops would be the only one I have a change of passing for."

Rogue frowned and considered Gambit for a moment, her arms folded across her chest. "I suppose. You have the same height and build, hair and skin colour. His hair is shorter then yours, though."

"And we both have to wear glasses," Gambit added, and Rogue thought she caught a glimpse of something going down his sleeve as he gestured back to the street for them to continue. "How are you at cutting hair?"

"Never done it before in my life," Rogue said with a puzzled frown, wondering why Gambit hadn't bought the glasses. "Aren't you going to get-"

"How do you feel about absorbing a hairdresser then?" Gambit asked, guiding her down the street.

"How about you actually go to the hairdresser and pay them to cut it for you," Rogue retorted.

"Street cameras. Don't want anyone following us now, assuming there is someone, to be able to see me with a new haircut," Gambit replied. "Also, you know what Cyclops' haircut looks like."

Rogue sighed. "Fine. But we'll have to get a hair cutting kit and a place to actually do it before I absorb anyone. The fresher the memories, the better off we'll be."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Rogue looked around their hotel room with disapproval. It was passably clean, but there was only one bed, a cheap TV (which didn't work), and little else. The bathroom was off in one corner, separated by a wall and only a wall.

"Are you kidding me?" Rogue exclaimed as she dropped her bag on the floor. "Why does the bathroom have no door?"

"Place is cheap," Gambit replied, kneeling on the floor while he zipped his own bag open, anxious to check on the contents.

"Ugh," Rogue grumbled.

She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, only then appreciating the smoky smell in her gloves. She frown and gave her shirt a speculative sniff as well—it also smelt of smoke—and then opened up her own bag.

"Great. Everything smells like it's been in a fire, which it has," Rogue said with a pointed look at Gambit.

Gambit didn't reply, more interesting in inspecting a particular cardboard box he'd pulled from his own bag. Inside the box was a collection of USB drives of various shapes and sizes, all containing sensitive data he had stolen. He had been keeping the box at his safehouse, but since that security had been compromised, he was keeping them with him until he could find a new secure location.

"Why don't you pass me your clothes and I'll get everything washed at that Laundromat we passed," Rogue said.

"Hmm?" Gambit looked up at Rogue, jolted out of his inspection.

"Your clothes. They need to get washed to get the smoky smell out," Rogue replied impatiently.

"Oh right..." Gambit paused and then sniffed his coat. "Wow, okay, that's bad."

"Yeah you probably smell worse than me because you were the stupid one who ran _back into the fire_," Rogue said. "You gonna give me your clothes or what?"

Gambit frowned thoughtfully then stood up and started taking things out of his coat pockets. Rogue gaped at him when she spied the sunglasses, the hair cutting kit and a few other things.

"What the hell? You've been shoplifting the whole time?" Rogue exclaimed, infuriated, and then pointed at the reasonably sized box the hair cutting kit was in. "Do I even want to know how you managed to swipe that without anyone noticing?"

"I'm very good at what I do," Gambit said. "And one of the things I didn't want to have happen was us getting caught on camera buying things intended to alter appearances. Speaking of which, since I'm going to be altering mine, you're going to have to alter yours." He eyed her critically. "I think we should trade in the thigh highs for some nude stockings."

"What is your obsession with dressing me up like some kind of barbie doll?" Rogue snapped at him.

"Aw chere, you're no barbie doll. You're far better proportioned," Gambit replied slyly as he pulled out his wallet. "And I've seen your legs and they are fiiine. You should show them off more."

"Gambit—"

"Here, you go buy yourself some stockings and a new pair of shoes and go absorb that hairdresser," Gambit said, handing her a wad of cash. "I'll go do the laundry."

"What? You're not worried about me being caught on camera buying shoes?" Rogue mocked him, even as she snatched up the cash.

"'Course not. Everyone knows women love buying shoes," Gambit replied blithely as he started gathering up clothes. "Actually you raise a good point. They'd probably expect you to buy lots of shoes. But it's best to travel light, no?"

"Gambit—"

"You go on ahead. We'll meet back in...what? An hour?" Gambit eyed their clothes speculatively. "That should be enough time. And then you can cut my hair. Just think, Roguey," he said mischievously as he took her hands. "I'm trusting you to take a pair of scissors to my head while there's a bounty on it."

Rogue gave him a long look as he grinned at her. She gave a loud sigh and turned for the door.

"I'm going to get shoes and..." she paused and glanced into the bathroom, "and get stuff for the bathroom. Meet you back here in an hour."

"Take your time," Gambit replied cheerfully.

As Rogue left, Gambit gathered up the clothes, observing that they'd need replacement luggage as their bags smelt like smoke too. He carried everything out to the laundromat they'd passed on the way to the hotel and began sorting things into machines.

As someone who owned more than his fair share of pink and red shirts, Gambit knew well the importance of proper clothes sorting. What he didn't expect, however, was that he'd need to use another machine for 'delicates'. It hadn't occurred to him when he offered to do the laundry that he'd end up doing Rogue's underwear, and even then, all the underwear he'd seen of hers had been plain and practical.

The black lacy briefs he held in his hand were anything but plain and practical.

He dropped them into the machine before anyone could catch him gawking at women's underwear like he'd never seen any before, and continued his sorting. Soon he found the matching bra and dropped it into the machine with the briefs before he could be caught staring at that too. He found himself wistfully hoping that he'd get to see Rogue wearing them.

Then Gambit pulled out a garment of black mesh and lace. It was plainly see-through, and Gambit wasn't sure if it was some sort of decorative mini dress intended to be layered, or if it was supposed to be a sexy nightgown. As he dropped it into the 'delicates' machine, Gambit decided it must be the latter. After all, he had gone with her when she acquired her new outer clothing, but not when she'd gone out to buy underwear.

He sorted everything else out in a daze, half hoping for more surprises, and half relieved when the only other delicates he found were some lacy gloves. Did Rogue buy those things for herself, or for him? He started the machines and pulled out his phone to continue reading his ebook but his mind wasn't on it at all. All he could think about was how he could seduce Rogue when they got back to the hotel.

…...

Rogue had no problems finding shoes. She picked out a pair of high heels (for showing off her legs) that she could easily slip off in case of a fight. She already had a pair of skin-colour stockings, but she grabbed another couple of pairs in case of runs.

While shopping for small bottles of toiletries, Rogue decided to grab a couple of towels as well. She couldn't remember seeing any towels in the hotel room (although she supposed that there were), but found herself feeling just as suspect of the hotel towels as she was of the hotel bed covers.

Rogue started for the hairdressers, but halfway there she changed her mind and instead pretended it was really the Atwoods store she had intended to go. Absorbing a hairdresser sounded like a good idea in theory but in practice, Rogue didn't think she could go through with it. Aside from the awkwardness of trying to absorb someone while wearing particularly long gloves, she wasn't sure she wanted to give a perfectly innocent human being a dizzy spell and/or a short coma.

She looked idly around the store, spent some time admiring the Western-style boots (and seriously considered buying a new pair), looked through the gloves, and finally stopped at the coats. After a moment's consideration, she pulled out her phone and called Gambit.

"Hey Swamp Rat," she said when he answered. "You washing the stench out of that coat of yours or did you want a new one?"

"Ah, I usually get it dry cleaned," Gambit admitted. "But I don't recall seeing a dry cleaner around here. Uh, yeah sure, I can never have too many coats. If you've got enough cash for one, that is."

"Should be. What size are you?"

He told her and they soon hung up. Rogue picked out a coat for him, paid for it, and then casually made her way to the laundromat. Gambit glanced up from his phone as she came in.

"Still going?" she asked.

"Yeah," Gambit said, and glanced over at the dials on the dryers he was using. "Another ten minutes at least."

"Alright," Rogue said and pulled out the coat she'd bought. "Wanna double-check this fits you?"

"Sure."

He got up off the chair, took off the coat he was wearing, and tried on the new one. It fit just fine, he would only need to add hidden pockets to it when he had a chance.

"That's good," he said, and took the coat off. "Did you absorb the hairdresser yet?"

"No, I've decided not to do that," Rogue replied. "I don't really feel right about putting someone into a coma in the middle of their work day just 'cause I want to steal their skillset. But, I may not have cut hair before, but I've seen it done and there's probably additional instructions in the kit. Even if I can't exactly duplicate Sco-um, Cyke's hair, I'm sure I can cut it short neatly."

Gambit nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright," he agreed. "I'll meet you back at the hotel then."

He watched as Rogue departed, his eye on her hips as they swayed from side to side. When she was out of sight, Gambit picked up his phone again and sent off another coded message to his friend before he forgot, then went back to reading.

When at last the washing was done, he took everything out of the dryers and folded them for easier carrying back to the hotel. Rogue's delicates he made sure to hide within the bundle of clothing.

Upon getting back to the hotel, he found Rogue sitting on the bed, going through the instruction sheet for the hair cutting kit. He put their clothes down on one of the bags, and took off his coat.

"Everything make sense?" he asked as he looked around the room and realised there was only two places he could sit: the bed, and the toilet seat.

"Yeah, I think I've got this," Rogue replied, setting the instruction sheet aside. "Umm, where do you want to sit?"

"Somewhere where it'll be easier to clean up the hair," Gambit said. "Which I will dispose of myself."

"Can't have anyone picking up a strand of your hair and doing a DNA test?" Rogue asked mischievously

"Two words: Mister Sinister."

"I'm sure he'd want more than just your hair, but point taken."

Gambit decided that the toilet seat, as much as he wished otherwise, was probably the best choice (the clothes he was wearing needed a wash anyway). He sat on it backwards with the lid down, and Rogue got started with his hair cut. She took it slow and only cut off small pieces at a time using a comb as a guide as she'd seen others do.

"Alright," Rogue said sometime later. "You wanna see what you think?"

"Sure," Gambit said, pleased to get up of the toilet.

He stood and looked into the dingy mirror, inspecting thoughtfully. Rogue held up a hand mirror that had been in the kit so he could see what it looked like from behind. He had been starting to get a bit anxious about how much time Rogue was taking and how much hair she was cutting (not to mention some of the hemming and hawing noises she was making while working), but the end result didn't look too bad.

"Looks good enough to me," he said. "Hate short hair, but it'll grow out again eventually."

"That's true," Rogue agreed. "Did you want first dibs on the shower?"

"Nah, you can have it first. Just save me some hot water."

Rogue agreed and went back into the main part of the room to grab the stuff she'd gotten for the shower and undress. Gambit quickly swept up the fallen hairs and scooped them into a plastic shopping bag.

"Oh come on, just get off my arm!" he heard Rogue snarl, and as he came out of the bathroom with his rubbish, he spied Rogue trying to pull off her second glove. She glared at him as he looked at her, and finally flicked the glove off her hand and onto the floor. "Ugh I really hate those things sometimes."

"I gathered," Gambit remarked dryly, as he sat on the bed, knowing the glare wasn't for him.

"No more long gloves in potential fighting situations," she went on, turning her attention to her skirt. "I could have absorbed Elektra so much earlier if I'd been able to take my glove off quickly. Did you see how much skin she had exposed?"

"Yes, yes I did."

"It should have been easy!" Rogue said in frustration as her skirt dropped onto the tops of her boots, and with a little assistance, worked their way down to the floor.

"Well, you could have tried kissing her like you did Bullseye," Gambit said, his eyes planted on Rogue's plain white briefs, now exposed by the removal of her skirt.

"She saw me do that already," Rogue replied, well aware of Gambit's gaze and unwilling to admit she liked it. "Pervert."

Gambit grinned, watching eagerly as Rogue lifted her shirt. "So if she wasn't forewarned..."

Rogue pulled her short-sleeved shirt over her head and dropped it to the side, exposing her pink bra. Gambit licked his bottom lip as he drank in the sight of her in her underwear and thigh-high boots, and Rogue felt a flush go through her.

"If I need to absorb someone, I will do so by the optimal means," Rogue replied firmly. "And normally that's with bare hands, but not when I'm wearing opera-length gloves like it's some formal occasion."

"Damn you look hot," was the only response Gambit could manage.

"Pick your jaw up off the floor, Swamp Rat," Rogue said, putting one leg up on the bed so that she could undo the zipper of her boot. "Anyone would think you haven't seen a half-naked woman before."

Gambit didn't reply. He was too busy watching while Rogue unzipped her boot and pulled it off her leg, revealing the nude thigh-high stocking she had been wearing underneath. Rogue took off the second boot as well, half annoyed, half flattered by Gambit's attention, and then sat on the bed to roll off her stockings.

"I think it's a good thing I'm having my shower after you," he said.

Rogue reached behind to unhook her bra. "Why's that?"

Gambit smiled slyly. "Nevermind."

It took Rogue a moment to digest that, then she groaned as she set her bra aside. "You had better not be planning on whacking yourself off in here."

"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of a cold shower, but since you brought it up..."

"Ugh," Rogue replied, then gestured for him to turn around. "Face the wall. I think you've seen quite enough today."

Gambit chuckled and turned his back. "You're more than welcome to see all of me, chere."

Rogue pulled off her underwear and buried it amongst her dirty clothes, then went into the bathroom to get the shower started. The shower was enclosed in clear glass, and it was only after Rogue had gotten the temperature to her liking and was wet that she realised she forgotten a few things.

"Uh, Remy?" she called out. "I forgot the shower gel and stuff, and my towel."

Gambit glanced over at the toiletries she'd bought.

"Would you mind?" she asked.

"Not in the slightest," Gambit replied, picking up the small bottles of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, and slinging one of the towels over his shoulder.

"Just... No looking below the waist, you got that?"

Gambit smiled as he entered the bathroom, keeping his gaze up and resisting the temptation to look down. "I got it, Roguey."

Rogue opened the shower door just enough to fit her hand through. "You had better."

Gambit passed her the mini bottles, both being careful to ensure that their hands didn't touch. As Rogue closed the door again, Gambit paused to admire the water cascading down Rogue's body.

"I have never been so jealous of a shower before," he said, his eyes on Rogue as he slung the towel over the towel rack.

Rogue gave him a pointed look. "Get out of here, Swamp Rat."

He chuckled lightly and left the bathroom, making sure to take up a position that was out of line-of-sight of the shower so that Rogue wouldn't think he was sneaking peeks at her. He took a moment to take off his shoes and socks, then stopped and decided to wait until Rogue was out of the shower before he finished undressing.

Gambit looked out the window at the substandard view, feeling rather pleased with how things were going. He knew that Rogue liked the attention he'd been giving her, even if it was only because of the 'novelty' factor. He was feeling more confident now that Rogue saw him as a Man and not as some paranoid whiner needing to be babied. He liked that Rogue had set boundaries too: Earning her permission to go past them would make things so much more fun.

Rogue eventually finished in her shower after washing her hair as well as her body. She dried off the excess water while in the bathroom, and then came out with the towel wrapped securely around her.

"Shower's all yours," Rogue said, and as Gambit turned to face her, she attempted to ignore the way his eyes travelled along her body.

"Great," he said.

He pulled his shirt off and tossed it to the side. He felt Rogue's eyes on his chest and grinned.

"Shall I put on a show for you, ma chere?" he asked.

"Show's already half over," Rogue replied dryly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Hmm, good point," Gambit said as he undid the fly of his pants. "Next hotel we're at, we should put on some music."

Rogue smirked and shook her head as he pulled his pants off, then pointed at him.

"You just take those boxers off in the bathroom," she said, wagging her finger. "No one wants to see that."

Gambit chuckled and made his way into the bathroom. He took off his boxers and got into the shower, only to realise he had made the same mistake Rogue had and forgotten to take a towel with him. He washed, finding doing his hair was the weirdest part. It was strange running his fingers through such short hair. When he was down with his shower, he called out:

"Uh, Roguey? I forgot my towel."

Rogue, who had gotten dressed in the meantime, turned around and spotted the second towel where she left it. As she picked it up, she wondered if Gambit had actually forgotten it, or if this was his way of 'making things even'.

"Alright," she said, "I'm coming in."

Gambit grinned as Rogue entered with her gaze firmly focused on his face as she held out the unfolded towel for him.

"Merci," he said, turning off the water.

As he opened up the door, Rogue watched the last droplets of water trickle down his bare chest. She lifted the towel and pressed it against his chest, liking what she felt even through two layers of fabric.

"Hmm," she said as he took the edges of the towel to wrap around himself. "This must be the luckiest day of the shower's life."

Gambit chuckled as Rogue turned and left the bathroom, giving him some privacy to dry himself off. He did so quickly, but thoroughly, and then headed out as well so he could get dressed. Rogue was at the window with her back turned to him, giving him additional privacy to pick out and put on his clothes.

"I called a friend of mine," Gambit said after he put his boxers on. "He has a prior engagement on at the moment, but when he's free, he'll transport us the rest of the way. I've already booked our hotel under a different name."

Rogue turned around as he spoke.

"Alright then," she said, walking over as he pulled up his pants. "So we have time to kill then?"

Gambit nodded as he did up his fly. "Yep."

Before he could bend over to grab a shirt, however, Rogue placed her hands on his chest. Now with only her gloves between them, she could better feel his firm muscle and trace along the contours of his body.

"Find something you like, chere?" Gambit murmured, his hands sliding onto her hips.

"I'd say so," she replied.

"That's good," he said, running his hands along her back, being careful not to lift her shirt lest his bare hands touch her skin. "Because I found something I like too."

"Oh?" Rogue asked, caressing his skin, her eyes locked onto his chest. "And what might that be?"

"You," Gambit said without missing a beat, his eyes on her lips. "Glorious, sexy you."

Rogue smiled, a faint blush on her cheeks, and her touch became more forceful, willing her hands to get as close to him as they could.

"How convenient," she said. "Because I found you."

Gambit pulled her tight into him with her words and his hands slide down to her behind, which he gave a firm squeeze. One hand continued down her leg and he dropped for just a moment so he could grab her knee and wrap her leg around his waist. Rogue sighed at the feel of Gambit's firm grip on her stocking-covered leg.

Rogue felt his gaze on her lips and finally lifted her eyes to meet his. He leaned in towards her, wanting to kiss her, and knowing he shouldn't. If she had been any other woman, Gambit would have been seeking to get her out of her clothes again, but instead of being turned off by the lack of naked flesh beneath his fingers, he found her to be tempting beyond words. Despite knowing the risks, his head dipped in lower towards her.

Abruptly, Gambit felt one of Rogue's hands over his mouth and the other was at the back of his head, pulling him in. He kissed the palm and fingers of her hand while Rogue kissed the back of it. A thrill ran through her as he kissed her hard, and she kissed him back with equal fervour.

He pushed her up against the nearest wall and knelt briefly so he could grab Rogue's other knee and wrap that leg around him too. Her skirt rolled up her legs, revealing strips of bare skin above the thigh-high stockings. Rogue felt his hands skim past to grab her buttocks and tensed when she realised just how close Gambit had come to being absorbed.

She might have been able to dismiss her initial concern had she not felt how well the bulge in his pants fit so snugly between her legs. As he rocked back and forth, Rogue had never felt so excited and yet so terrified in her life. She pulled back sharply.

"We have to stop," she said, almost hitting her head on the wall.

Gambit blinked, disappointed, as Rogue pulled her hand away from his mouth and put it on his shoulder instead.

"Okay," he said, trying not to sound as reluctant as he felt as he put a stop to his thrusting.

Rogue pulled her legs from around him and Gambit assisted her in an orderly returned to the ground. As Rogue pushed away from him almost as soon as she was standing again, Gambit mentally cursed himself for getting carried away. This was not how he had anticipated his plan to seduce Rogue going.

"I'm sorry," she said, much to his surprise. "Gah, Logan's right. I am such a cocktease."

She sat on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands. Gambit frowned.

"Ah, you're no cocktease, chere," Gambit said while his erection thought otherwise. "I was the one doing the humping back there. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Rogue looked up at him through her fingers. "No, you didn't make me... Remy, I could have absorbed you just now, okay? And damnit, let's be frank here okay-"

"I'd rather if you were Rogue and I was Remy."

"—nobody's ever going to have sex with me. Ever. Over the clothes groping, that's the best I'm ever going to get," Rogue said irritably, ignoring his joke. "I'm sorry. I have no business jumping you and leading you on like that."

Gambit let out a long slow breath and sat down beside her.

"I think with a little creativity you can go a little further than you might think," he said assuringly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "And you're not leading me on. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I asked you out."

Rogue lifted her head out of her hands and gave him a cynical look. "You asked me out because we were in bed together for body heat and it was a way to remove the awkward from the equation."

"And because I liked you," Gambit said firmly. "I never would have even considered asking you out if I didn't like you. You are an amazing kick-ass woman, Roguey. Don't let a few bumps in the road kill your spirit of adventure."

"You're comparing my lack of control to a bump in the road?" Rogue demanded with a frown.

"Yes," Gambit replied, hoping he wasn't going to get himself in trouble for not taking her disability seriously or something. "If sex is something you want to do, I'd be more than happy to—assuming you're inclined to grant me the privilege—work with you to find ways around this. And I don't doubt that it will take work, but y'know, cheating the system is what I do for a living."

Rogue didn't reply. Gambit leaned over and kissed her head through her hair.

"If you want me, just let me know when you're ready," he said softly. "Or, y'know, jump me again. That works too."

Rogue made a noise that was half laugh and half sob.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

While they waited for Gambit's friend to arrive, Rogue decided that some Cyclops lessons were in order:

"You have way too much swagger in your walk," Rogue informed him, and then walked across the floor in her approximation of Scott's stride. "It's more like this."

"Hmm," Gambit considered while enjoying the excuse to watch Rogue walk, even if she was trying to do so in a masculine fashion. He flicked his cards from one hand to another.

"And put those cards away," Rogue said. "Cyke doesn't play with cards. He doesn't fidget either."

"Well, he's got to have some mannerism," Gambit replied with a shrug as he reluctantly set his cards aside. "We all do."

"Cyke's a jaw clencher," Rogue informed him.

"Oh yeah? Well that's kind of dull," Gambit said as he got up and started practicing his Cyclops walk across the room. "How's this?"

Rogue considered for a moment, then nodded. "Much better. He's always very purposeful in the way he moves. And he doesn't go around smirking either, not unless he's gotten one up on Wolverine or something, and then he has smug satisfaction written all over his face."

"Ah, now that's something I can relate to," Gambit replied with a smug smirk as he continued walking.

"Also," Rogue went on wickedly from where she was perched on the edge of one of the two beds. "You can't just go around checking out every woman you pass by."

Gambit paused in his step and frowned at Rogue. "I don't do that."

"Uh huh," Rogue drawled. "Cyke only has eyes for two women: Jean Grey and Emma Frost."

Gambit raised an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong but they're both telepaths are they not?"

"Oh, you noticed that too?" Rogue replied with a smirk. "It's stupid. When Jean was, uh, missing, Cyke could do nothing but pine and fret over her. And now that Jean's back and Emma's the one who's... gone..." Rogue shook her head. "I'd say the only reason why Jean hasn't noticed his pining is because of all those headaches she's been having."

In addition to changing his walk and getting Cyclops' mannerisms down as best he could without the real deal to study from. Gambit also practiced his "Alaska meets New York" accent. Rogue helped him along by actually calling Cyclops and asking him to say a few things. Although puzzled by the request, Cyclops complied and Rogue recorded his voice, which Gambit listened to carefully. Both Rogue and Gambit believed that his physical presentation would be more important that his voice, but Gambit couldn't go around speaking in his native New Orleans accent if he expected to maintain the illusion.

Cyclops practice was past being wearisome when there was a knock at the door. Eagerly, but still on guard, Gambit looked through the peephole of the hotel room door before opening it. His expected visitor, Courier, stared at Gambit in surprise as the thief let him in.

"Glad you could make it," Gambit said slyly.

"You cut your hair," Courier said, unable to stop staring.

"I got bored waiting," Gambit joked, then gestured to Rogue. "This is my girlfriend, Rogue. Rogue, this is Courier."

Rogue felt her heart catch in her throat at Gambit's introduction. They'd only known each other for maybe a week and although they had agreed to date, until now neither party had formally named their relationship. Rogue felt giddy. She'd never had a boyfriend before.

"You can call me Jake," Courier said, finally tearing his eyes away from Gambit's new hairdo to look at Rogue. It didn't surprise him in the slightest that Rogue was gorgeous.

"Nice to meet you, Jake," Rogue replied with a nod of acknowledgement. "Ya gonna come in or were you planning on standing in the doorway for the rest of the day?"

"Huh? Oh," Courier replied and as he walked the rest of the way inside, he gestured to the wheeled suitcase he was pulling with his other hand. "You needed luggage?"

"Marvellous, thank you," Gambit said, taking it off his hands.

"Here, I'll pack," Rogue said, taking it from Gambit's hand in turn. "You boys catch up."

"Merci," Gambit said, with a brief smile for Rogue as she got started packing their things. He turned back to Courier. "Just need transport to our hotel in Oklahoma."

"Hmm, yeah, so close and yet so far, huh?" Courier said with a smirk.

"Yeah, don't want to be seen leaving here," Gambit said and turned away to pick up his box of drives. "And I'd like you to keep this safe for me. The last attack almost cost me this."

Courier eyed the box like it was full of snakes just waiting to jump out at him.

"In the event someone does kill me," Gambit went on, shuffling his feet, "give it to the X-Men."

Rogue lifted her head from her packing and gave Gambit a startled look. Gambit was too busy avoiding eye contact with her to notice.

"Alright. Wait, X-Men?" Courier repeated, then took another look at Rogue. "You are..." he stopped and looked at Gambit. "You're dating an X-Man?"

"I assure you, my Roguey is all woman," Gambit replied slyly. "Unlike you when we first met. Have I mentioned how good you looked in that fur bikini, by the way?"

"Multiple times. Usually just to get on my nerves," Courier replied blandly, as he took the box from Gambit. "I'm almost sorry no one's succeeded in killing you yet, Remy."

"You're just saying that," Gambit teased him.

Rogue finished packing, not sure what to think of Gambit entrusting whatever was in the box to the X-Men's keeping in the event of his death. They left the hotel keys and the two smelly bags in the room with no intention of formally checking out, and Courier used his personal teleporter to transport them to a blindspot just outside their next hotel. Courier took his leave and Rogue headed inside with Gambit (now wearing his new red sunglasses) to check in.

Gambit picked the hotel because his research that morning had indicated that Sybil Zane was a member of a nearby gym. After checking into their hotel, Rogue and Gambit walked by it on their way to the shops.

"So that's it, huh?" Rogue mused as she looked over the multi-storey building. "Alright then."

They continued on their way, and Gambit kept an eye out for any potential street cameras as they went. Finally they stopped at a corner with a grocery store: Rogue headed across the street to a sports store to get gym clothes, and Gambit into the grocery store to get food. Their hotel room came with a kitchenette and he wanted to take full advantage of it to have a decent meal and see if he could impress Rogue with his culinary expertise.

Gambit casually made his way through the grocery store, picking up various things for multiple meals, not just dinner that night. He'd booked out the hotel for a couple of nights since there was no guarantee when Rogue would be able to absorb Sybil Zane or how long it would take for them to get the bounty lifted.

Since he was pretending to be Cyclops, Gambit resisted the urge to shop lift. He wasn't expecting any trouble as they had only just arrived in Oklahoma after all, and it wasn't like they were anywhere near Sybil Zane's home. But he didn't care to do anything 'out of character' just in case.

He gathered and paid for everything, then headed outside to see if Rogue was waiting. She wasn't. He headed over to the pedestrian crossing with the intention of meeting Rogue outside the sports store, when two men and a woman intercepted him.

"Cyclops," one of the men said.

Gambit paused ever so slightly, his shopping bags in hand, but didn't respond. He wasn't expecting to get 'recognised' at all.

"Don't ignore us," said the same man, standing in front of him with his arms folded across his thick, broad chest. "Where is he?"

"You'll have to be more specific," Gambit replied, pleased that he'd spent so much time practicing Cyclops' voice.

"Don't play dumb with us," the first man replied as the second man said: "Gambit of course."

"Sorry, can't help you," Gambit said firmly. "I don't know where he is."

"We know Wolverine is playing diversion in New Orleans," said the woman, a slim, petite, grim-faced individual with her hair done up in a bun with a hair pin. "We know you're here with Rogue, and not all that far away from the one who set the bounty."

"We don't like people who try to get between us and our money," the first man said direly. "So I suggest you start talking."

"Gambit is a race-traitor," Gambit said blandly. "Why the hell would the X-Men want to help him? I don't know where he is and quite frankly, I don't care. Now, if you don't mind, I have perishables I need to get in the fridge."

The second man, a shorter scrappier fellow than his male colleague, pulled out a knife. "You're the one who's going to perish if you don't tell us where Gambit is."

Gambit dropped his shopping as the three attacked. He dodged the knife and ducked out of the way of the big guy's fists. With a swift kick, Gambit knocked the knife our of the shorter man's hand. It dropped and skittered along the pavement, landing in the gutter.

Undeterred, the three pressed their attack. Gambit felt naked getting into a physical fight without his staff or cards, but using either of those things would give away his true identity. Likewise, he didn't exactly have the ability to shoot them with Cyclops' signature concussive blasts.

As they fought, Gambit wished he'd thought to have a sparring match with Rogue. He wasn't used to having empty hands during a fight and it was taking him awhile to adjust. He grabbed hold of the post behind him and used it to give him further leverage for his kicks.

Then the big man managed to slam his fist into Gambit's head. His sunglasses went flying off and it only good fortune that Gambit wasn't so dazed by the strike that he didn't forget to shut his eyes.

He strained his ears to listen, the sounds of his attackers muffled by the sounds of the traffic and other pedestrians around them. He was purely on the defensive now, trying to anticipate attacks he couldn't see, movements he couldn't clearly hear, and was relieved that he'd always kept up his blind-fight training. He kept the post at his back, knowing that they wouldn't be able to get him from behind and continuing to take advantage of the leverage it provided him with. A couple of times, when he dodged, he could hear one of the three hitting the post instead of him.

The truly nerve-wracking moment came when he could sense no more approaches by the three. His heart raced, not knowing if the fight was over or if this was simply the eye of the storm. He heard a shift in the trafiic movement, with the traffic behind him stopping, and the traffic on the otherside of the pedestrian crossing to his left now moving.

"I see you've been busy, sugar," he heard Rogue say.

"Yeah..." Gambit replied, and then felt a pair of glasses being placed into his hands. "Just a little."

With relief he put the red sunglasses back on and finally looked around. At his feet were the bodies of his attackers, beaten and bloody, and knocked out.

"Did they get you?" Rogue asked, looking him over carefully.

"Umm, here and there," Gambit said casually, brushing himself off. "I'm okay."

Rogue nodded. "Well, we can check you out properly back at the hotel."

"Ooh promise?" Gambit asked before he could stop himself.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Really Cyke? What would Jean say if she heard you now?"

* * *

><p>At the appropriate hour, Rogue departed from the hotel on her own and walked to the gym. She signed in as a guest and set about locating Sybil. Rogue had never met Sybil before, which was good in the sense that Sybil shouldn't recognise her, but bad in the sense that Rogue could only recognise her from photos. She changed into her new gym clothes, pants and a short top that bared her stomach, over which she wore a jacket and a pair of fingerless sports gloves.<p>

Finding Sybil ended up being easier than Rogue had expected. She found the long-haired woman in the weights room. Pleased, Rogue made her way to a nearby machine, only then taking off her jacket and beginning her own workout.

Rogue kept what she hoped was a discreet eye on Sybil throughout, just enough to track her progress throughout the gym. Rogue felt the best place to absorb Sybil would be in the change room after. While Rogue would also prefer to absorb Sybil today, she was prepared to return and try again another day if she couldn't do so discreetly and safely.

After Rogue spotted Sybil heading for the change room, she gave herself a little time to finish up and then headed there herself. The change room was a lot more crowded than Rogue liked and she became highly conscious of her bare arms, lower back, and stomach. She carefully made her way through the room, using her unworn jacket to guard as much of her skin as possible.

Not seeing Sybil in the change room straight away, Rogue prepared herself for a shower as she usually would, feeling a lot more conscious of her bare skin than she normally did. Keeping her towel wrapped securely around her, Rogue headed into the shower section where she finally found Sybil again. Rogue located the closest she could find to an isolate place to shower and washed off the evening's sweat (it was good to get a workout done after so many days travelling). She would not absorb Sybil while they were showering: she wanted information, not to get the woman injured or killed.

Rogue made her shower quick for her own sake and was quite relieved to get back to the lockers and start changing into her clothes, which she did at a measured speed: not as quickly as she would have liked, but slow enough that she could get away with staying in the change room longer so she could get Sybil.

Sybil emerged from the showers while Rogue was halfway through dressing, and by good fortune, her locker was in line of sight of Rogue's. Rogue finished dressing at the same pace, all except for her gloves. Sybil's locker wasn't exactly on the way to the door, but Rogue would have to deal with that. She casually walked over and as she did pulled a playing card from her pocket. The card had the word "Bounty" written on it. This Rogue dropped at Sybil's feet as she was pulling on her pants.

With a frown, Sybil finished doing up her pants, and then leaned over to pick up the card. Her thoughts immediately went to Gambit and as she turned to see where the card had come from, Rogue touched her bare arm. Sybil blacked out and dropped down on the bench. Rogue cushioned her fall as best she could, but with her bare hands, and Sybil being in the middle of getting dressed, it was easier said than done.

Rogue grabbed the card, and finally left the change room and the gym. Once out of the gym doors, Rogue put her gloves back on, pulled out a notepad and pen she'd bought earlier, and started trying to get down some of the thoughts she'd picked up out of Sybil Zane's head. It was awkward trying to walk and write at the same time, and she kept stopping and starting, but getting everything down while it was fresh was vital.

She was therefore irritated when her phone started ringing. With a growl under her breath, she slid the pen into the spiral spine of the notepad and pulled out her phone. Gambit's name appeared on the screen.

"What?" she demanded upon answering it.

"You're being followed," Gambit told her, ignoring her tone. "Don't look around. She's tall, blonde, and wearing black business attire. Yes, I realise that probably doesn't help narrow it down, but you shouldn't try to find her anyway. She'll know. She's an expert at this stuff."

"Someone you know?" Rogue asked as she continued to walk.

Gambit sighed, figuring he may as well tell her since there was a chance she'd find out anyway: "Bella Donna. If you don't feel like you're being followed it's because she's not looking at you directly. She's watching you in reflections and in her peripheral vision. Just keep walking normally, but try to walk close to places where you can move quickly out of her line of sight, or get into crowds."

Rogue sighed irritably. "I don't have time for this. I have a limited window of opportunity to get down what I got out of Zane's head. Once her psyche starts fading all the intel we need and any other facts and figures I picked up will be the first to go."

"There ain't much I can do from here," Gambit said.

"Where are you, anyway?"

"The hotel still. I figured I'd hack into a few street cameras while I was waiting for dinner to cook. It's still got another hour, by the way."

"That's nice," Rogue replied cynically. "Look, I'll do what I can to shake her, but I have to get this stuff down. I'm sure it'll be a lot harder to absorb Zane again when they move her to hospital."

"No doubt, but nothing you get from her will matter if Belle follows you back here and kills me," Gambit pointed out matter-of-factly. "Look, do whatever you need to do. Just let me know when you're just about here so I can confirm if Belle's still following you or not. And Rogue? Be careful, please. If Belle realises that you know she's following you, she doesn't need to get close to kill you."

"I consider myself warned," Rogue said.

They hung up. Rogue put her phone back into her pocket and pulled the pen out of the spine again, preparing to write more with little care to where she was going, since she could no longer go straight back to the hotel. It was still just as awkward before Gambit called, with all the stopping and starting and having to look up occasionally so she could avoid bumping into things and people and falling into the gutter.

The constant interruptions made it difficult for Rogue to maintain Sybil Zane's train of thought to the point where she felt she should just find a place to sit. Fortunately, not long after having this irritated thought, a bus stop came to her attention and she sat down on the empty, sheltered bench to write. Being able to give her writing her full attention made a big difference, and her handwriting wasn't so messy either.

When she felt Sybil's mind begin to fade, Rogue stuck her finger in between the last page she'd written on and the next clean page, then flipped back to the beginning and reread her notes. The reread triggered further information, and Rogue wrote everything that came to mind down, regardless of whether she'd already written it or not.

A few buses and many people in and out of the bus stop later, and Rogue was on the last page of her original set of notes. The light was starting to dim, and upon consultation with her phone she realised that she'd been writing for almost an hour. She lifted her head and looked around, not entirely sure where she was, but confident she should be able to find her way back to the hotel. After a moment's consideration, Rogue sent Gambit a text message to keep him up to date, albeit cryptically.

Rogue had not forgotten about Bella Donna. She figured that while she was writing at least, Bella Donna wouldn't get the idea Rogue knew she was there. Now, without an obvious distraction in her hands, Rogue knew she had to be careful. It was quite tempting to see if she could see Bella Donna, particularly as she'd never seen the woman before and wasn't clear on her relationship with Gambit.

She began to walk with the intention of finding her way back to the hotel without actually going in it. It turned out that she chose her direction wisely, for she soon came to streets she recognised as being close to her hotel. As she approached a corner, she saw the reflection of a blonde-haired woman wearing black in the windows of a hotel just across the street.

An idea occurred to Rogue, and she continued on to the hotel across the road as if it was the hotel she was staying in. She walked through the foyer to the elevators and pressed the 'up' button. The third elevator opened almost immediately, and as Rogue stepped inside, she spotted Bella Donna enter the foyer. Rogue turned her head to the buttons and pressed the button for the second-top floor. The doors closed as Bella Donna walked towards the elevators, cutting off Rogue's view. Rogue was relieved. She was finding it surprisingly difficult not to look at Bella Donna.

As the elevator rose, Rogue took a deep breath, trying to sort out her next move. She wasn't entirely sure how Bella Donna would choose to act, but if their roles were reversed, Rogue would have stayed in the foyer and watched the numbers on the elevator display to see which floor it stopped at. Rogue decided to gamble that this was what Bella Donna was doing.

Finally, her elevator stopped. Rogue partially got out of the elevator, keeping one leg inside, and looked out at the displays for the other two elevators. There was no movement from either for a moment, and then finally, the second elevator started moving up. Rogue waited until it was halfway to her floor, then got back into her elevator and hit the button for the ground floor.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she headed back down. She had no way of knowing for sure if Bella Donna was in that second elevator, nor could she be certain that Bella Donna wasn't still in the foyer.

Rogue took a deep breath and managed to compose herself by the time the elevator doors opened again. As she stepped out, a family stepped in. There was no sign of Bella Donna, for which Rogue was relieved, and she quickly, but as casually as possible, headed back out of the hotel. What Bella Donna would do when she got to the second-top floor, Rogue didn't know, but she hoped the innocent hotel guests wouldn't be troubled by her.

* * *

><p><strong>Bonus:<strong>

"Okay that was very good," said Rogue. "Now, let me hear your best 'Jeeeeeaaaannnnn'."

"Jeeeaaaannnn!"

"Nope, you need more angst. It's got to come from the gut."

"Jeeeeaaaaannnn!"

"Much better."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gambit was just serving up the rice onto plates when Rogue came through the door of their hotel room. She only took a few steps in when she stopped and looked at Gambit in the kitchenette, scooping rice out of a pot with an oven tray resting on the stove.

"Okay wow," she said. "I know you said you were cooking dinner, but I didn't realise you were _cooking_ dinner."

Gambit chuckled. "I actually happen to enjoy cooking. Besides, when you travel as much as I do, it's nice to have an actual meal and not take-away or pre-packaged food all the time."

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, I can see that." Her eyes fell upon the table, already set with cutlery and wine glasses. "Umm... Is this a date?"

"Maybe," Gambit replied casually, setting the now-empty pot aside and making sure the rice was evenly divided across the plates. "I'll leave it up to you. We both gotta eat."

"Yeah..." Rogue said slowly, then glanced down at her bag. "I'm gonna go put this down."

"Alright."

Rogue headed into the bedroom and set the gym bag down next to the suitcase. She hesitated, then glanced out through the door way, thought again for a moment, and finally closed the door.

Gambit smiled to himself when he heard the door close. He picked up one of the plates and took it over to the oven tray to load it up with chicken and sauce, and repeated the procedure with the other plate. Once he was satisfied, he carried the two plates out to the table, set them down, then knocked lightly on the bedroom door.

"Dinner is all ready, ma chere," he said.

"Okay!" Rogue called back. "I'll just be a minute."

Gambit's grin broadened. He busied himself with a quick clean up in the kitchenette. He had been cleaning up as he went, so there wasn't much to do, and Gambit preferred to keep it that way.

Rogue finally emerged from the bedroom wearing her pink long-sleeved mini dress and a pair of short black gloves. She was still wearing her thigh high stockings and high heels shoes. What Gambit couldn't see as he sat down with Rogue at the table, was that she had also changed her underwear and was now wearing the black lacy set he had washed for her earlier that day.

"Okay so," Rogue said, looking at the chicken breast pieces and rice covered in an orange sauce. "I'm guessing this is apricot?"

"Yeah," Gambit replied with a grin, knowing she'd seen the apricots and apricot nectar he'd bought from the store earlier. "Apricot chicken. Have you had it before?"

"Not that I can recall," Rogue said, lifting her fork to begin eating.

"Well, I hope you like it."

Rogue hoped she would too. It was obvious that he'd gone to a lot of effort and she wanted to like it. She cut off a piece of chicken and scooped it up with some rice. Gambit ate his first bite also, not looking at her, as he didn't want to make her feel self-conscious about her initial reaction.

"Oh wow, this is nice," Rogue said, after swallowing.

"I'm glad you like it," Gambit replied, smiling at her and resisting the urge to comment on there being no need for her to sound surprised.

"Yeah, it's good."

Rogue suddenly felt nervous. As she got her next mouthful together she realised she had absolutely no idea what to say.

"So," Gambit said when the silence drew out. "Did you get all those notes you needed to make before Sybil's personality faded?"

"Oh, she hasn't faded," Rogue said. "Well, I mean, the logical fact stuff has faded and yeah, I got everything we needed. I think. I haven't properly reviewed the notes yet what with just having got back. But I got the contact number for the Hell House—that's how she organised the bounty on your head, through a place called the Hell House."

Gambit nodded. "I know the place. It's popular with mercs. Deadpool hangs out there."

"Ah. Well, I got the password and stuff she set up for it," Rogue went on, "only problem is that they do a voice print now, and I might be able to copy her mind but I can't mimic her voice."

"Voice print, huh?" Gambit asked thoughtfully. "Seems unnecessary, but okay. It won't be a problem. I already have a few samples of Sybil's voice."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I like to collect voice samples of important people. I have a bit of software that can use the samples to piece together almost anything I feel like making them say, as long as I have enough of the right samples," Gambit said, then frowned at the table. "Ah, I forgot the wine. Did you want any?"

"Sure. Just a glass," Rogue replied as Gambit stood. "That software sounds a little scary... You don't have my voice on there do you?"

Gambit chuckled as he made his way to the kitchen and pulled the wine bottle from the fridge. "I wouldn't dare take samples of your voice, ma chere. Your voice is so beautiful, why, I'd be tempted to do nothing but listen to it all day."

Rogue was silent for a moment as she watched him swagger back to the table, wine bottle in hand.

"You don't mean that," she said finally. "You just don't have my voice recorded because I'm not 'important'."

"You are important," Gambit said, grinning knowingly at Rogue as he opened the wine bottle. "But if I want to steal anything more from Forge's laboratory it's his voice I would need to get in, not yours. So, Sybil's personality hasn't faded then? She's still in your head?"

Rogue nodded as Gambit poured the wine.

"Yeah. She'll be in my head permanently, but since I only absorbed her a bit over an hour ago her voice is still relatively loud. It'll fade over the next few hours. By morning, I won't even notice she's there," Rogue said. "Well, I mean, I'm always aware of the voices in my head, but when they're that quiet it more like background noise, you know?"

"I suppose," Gambit said thoughtfully, setting the bottle back. "What about mutant powers? How long do they last?"

"Depends on the strength of the absorption and on the strength of the powers. It varies a lot. Sometimes I can only have them for a few minutes, other times I can keep them for hours," Rogue replied with a shrug as she scooped more dinner onto her fork. "Skillsets in general vary a lot. Things like say...bookkeeping. That fades pretty fast. But last year I absorbed five Yakuza assassins trained in bushido, which is the Samurai code of conduct. I'm a little fuzzy on the moral values aspect of it, but I can still do things with a katana I was never trained to do."

"Huh," Gambit mused as he lifted his glass to his lips. "We should have had you and Deadpool have a sword fight."

Rogue laughed. "Maybe some other time. Besides, I have a feeling that his daily experience with his katanas would outweigh my borrowed experience."

As they ate they continued to chat about their respective mutations. Gambit found it a little strange to actually talk about what he could do with someone. Normally he avoided the subject, preferring to keep things mysterious. But talking to Rogue was quite different to talking to others. She, unlike almost everyone else the subject came up with, didn't look at him like a freak or treat him like one, and her interest was genuine, not feigned or ghoulish.

"How long do you think Sybil will be in a coma for?" Gambit asked after awhile, as he scooped up the last of the apricot soaked rice.

"A few hours at least," Rogue replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I can cancel the bounty, but then the next step is in making sure that Sybil doesn't reinstate it."

Rogue nodded thoughtfully and swallowed. "Well, Sybil's the only one who knows about the bounty, at least as far as I know. She caught you in her office and noticed after that her computer wasn't quite as she left it so that's what inspired her to get rid of you."

Gambit raised his eyebrows. "Okay, while I admit I've been through her computer, someone else must have gone through it that day, or else her memory sucks. I did not go through her computer the day she caught me in her office. And she didn't really 'catch' me neither. She was the one who wanted us to meet. Not my fault if she was late."

Rogue giggled at his indignant tone.

"But, I guess that's good news in itself," Gambit went on thoughtfully, cleaning off his plate. "If Sybil was the one who chose to set the bounty, then she's the only one we need to convince not to reinstate it."

"Hmm. Any ideas on how we're going to do that?"

Before Gambit could respond, they were both distracted by the sound of the heavy hotel door opening. Their date was completely forgotten as they got to their feet. Gambit mentally cursed for not thinking to have the bounty cancelled before they started dinner. He had a card in one hand and his retracted staff in the other as Rogue moved to intercept.

In walked Bella Donna, sliding something into her sleeve with a smug smile on her lips as she took them in.

"Ah, here you are Remy," she said, looking him over, then glancing at the dinner table, her eyes landing on the wine bottle. "I've been looking for you."

"So I gathered," Gambit replied warily.

Bella Donna looked from the wine bottle to Rogue. Rogue looked stonily back at the woman she thought she'd managed to ditch at the other hotel.

"This is the new girlfriend, huh?" Bella Donna asked, looking Rogue up and down. "The X-Man Rogue, how amusing. You always did like to make trouble."

"What can I say?" Gambit said dryly. "I learned from the master."

"Hmph. I do hope, Rogue," Bella Donna said, catching and holding Rogue's gaze, "that you're not getting too attached to this little charmer. I don't know what lies he's told you to convince you to help him, but you should know that the only woman he loves is me."

"And yet, here you are, coming to kill him for money," Rogue retorted.

"You're nothing to him," Bella Donna said, refusing to respond to the jibe. "Except maybe another notch on the belt."

"Oh probably," Rogue replied agreeably.

"Wait, what?" Gambit said, completely taken aback by Rogue's response.

"But you're just another notch too," Rogue said, and glanced at Gambit. "It's okay, sugar. There's no need to pretend. I'm not under some delusion that we're going to magically fall in love and live happily ever after." Rogue looked back at Bella Donna and added slyly: "Unlike some people."

Bella Donna's eyes flashed. "Ooh, and here I was generously planning on letting you live."

In a flash of movement, Bella Donna threw a knife. Before Rogue could react, or even work out where Bella Donna pulled it out of, Gambit had deflected it with his still-retracted staff. The knife went flying off to the side.

"Getting a little slow, Belle?" Gambit asked the same time Bella Donna said: "Huh, someone's been practising."

The looks Gambit and Bella Donna gave each other in that moment made Rogue feel like a third wheel. Gambit's staff extended, Bella Donna was suddenly armed with a long knife in each hand, and then they were at each other.

"We don't really need to do this, Belle," Gambit said, blocking her dual knife strikes with his staff.

"Oh, I really think we do," she replied.

She lifted her leg to kick him in the guts, but he dodged out of the way.

"I don't want to hurt you," Gambit said.

"Advantage to me then."

"Is this all I am to you now, chere? A dollar sign?"

"And the seven figures that come after it."

Rogue frowned as she took off her gloves, watching them. There was something about the fight that felt off. Earlier Gambit had sounded so certain that Bella Donna would kill him if she caught up with him, yet watching her, Rogue had to wonder if Bella Donna actually would. Was the assassin just playing with Gambit or testing him out? Or was she really not interested in killing him after all?

There was little time to ponder this, and no chance for Rogue to find an opening to cut in, for there were noises at the hotel door again, as if their intent was not merely to unlock the door, but break it down.

And break it down they did. Three assassins, the same ones Gambit had fought earlier while pretending to be Cyclops, came barging in. They showed signs of their earlier encounter, but apparently being knocked out cold hadn't dissuaded them for long.

"Where's Gambit?" demanded the big guy.

"Umm..." the woman said, tapping her friend on the shoulder with one hand and pointing with the other. "Right there."

Rogue pressed her fist into her other hand as she stood in front of them, between them and Gambit and Bella Donna. "I'm sorry, Gambit's a little busy at the moment, but if you want I can take a message."

The woman glanced at her male companions and gave them an indicative nod. The men grinned and lunged for Rogue. Rogue dodged and kicked and managed to land her bare hand on the bigger mans' bare arm. He dropped to the floor like a stone. The shorter man sneered.

"If you think I'm going to be stupid enough to let you touch me—" he began to say.

"Oh don't worry sugar, I can still kick your ass without using my powers," Rogue retorted.

He doubted her but was quickly corrected. Likewise Rogue realised that he was a significantly tough and experienced opponent. The fact that Gambit was able to take out him and his two companions earlier while unable to see increased Rogue's respect for Gambit as a combatant.

As they fought, Rogue noticed the female assassin slowly move away from them, her eyes on Gambit. She removed the hairpin from the bun her black hair was in and readied herself to throw it the moment she had an opening. Rogue attempted to intercept, only for the shorter man to press his attack, determined to keep Rogue away from his companion.

Undeterred, Rogue twisted away from the shorter man. The woman noticed her out of the corner of her eye and shifted further away, but kept her gaze on Gambit where he continued to fight with Bella Donna. Rogue swung herself around, intending to kick the hairpin out of the woman's hand. The scrapper grabbed at her, throwing off Rogue's aim but not quite enough to stop her from kicking the woman's arm the moment she threw the hairpin.

Gambit swore as the hairpin embedded itself in the wall, inches away from his head. He and Bella Donna stopped in that moment and Bella Donna's eyes narrowed as she pulled the hairpin out of the wall.

"Excuse me?" Bella Donna demanded of the other female assassin as Rogue and the other man continued to tussle. "This is my target, bitch. Back off."

Whatever she might have said in reply was cut off by two things. The sound of breaking glass as the window and door leading onto the balcony smashed, and the sound of voices coming down the hall. The already broken hotel door burst open with the entry of more assassins in street clothes, looking like they were doing just as much arguing amongst themselves. The curtains were opened, revealing a half dozen more assassins, dressed in black.

"We are so not getting the deposit back on this room," Gambit muttered as Rogue struck the scrapper hard in a place where Gambit must have injured him earlier, sending him down to the floor.

"Gambit is my target!" Bella Donna shouted shrilly while Rogue slowly straightened up, took in the number of new opponents to fight, and kicked off her shoes. "I'm the only one who gets to kill him!"

Bella Donna threw the hairpin back at her owner. The woman's reflexes were just good enough that instead of piercing her jugular as Bella Donna intended, the hairpin only scraped by the side of her neck.

"First in, first serve," retorted one of the other assassins as Rogue quickly ripped off her thigh high stockings. "Get him!"

The newly arrived assassins leapt into the fight, Bella Donna turning her attention from fighting Gambit to fighting the other assassins. Rogue pulled off her second stocking, only to realise that the scrapper she'd just been fighting had an excellent view up her dress. She frowned at him and absorbed him through her big right toe. With that problem dealt with, Rogue tackled the assassins coming in the door.

One assassin jumped up on the table and took aim at Gambit over the head of the hand-to-hand and melee-weapon armed assassins. Gambit saw him almost immediately and sent a charged card at him blowing the gun right out of his hands.

"Didn't your mama ever tell you not to bring a gun to a knife fight?" Gambit said.

"Less yapping, more fighting, Remy," Bella Donna growled at him, otherwise busy with a ninja.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Back to back Gambit and Bella Donna fought, both knowing they could trust the other, even if it was only for a little while. The hotel room wasn't really big enough for all the combatants, especially with part of the floor covered in glass. Gambit fought to keep everyone at a distance, at the same time trying to figure out how to get out of this before he got overwhelmed.

Gambit was under no delusions: Every single person in this room except Rogue was out to kill him, and if he wanted to save his own life, he needed to be prepared to kill too. He saw Rogue being shoved up against a nearby wall and knew there was nothing he could do to help her.

Likewise, Rogue also knew how bad the situation was, and there was only one way she could think of that they could get out of this without anyone getting killed. She reached up for the zipper at the back of her mini dress and pulled it down while trying to fight at the same time. It wasn't easy, and it was harder still trying to get out of the dress altogether, but she managed.

Most of the assassins had only hands and faces exposed, and the ninjas even less, so the exposure of her own skin didn't guarantee an absorption but it did increase the chances of success. And with each new absorption, Rogue's fighting skill increased.

Gambit spotted Rogue again, wearing nothing but her bra and briefs, and gawked momentarily. Under normal circumstances that pause wouldn't have meant much, but in the current ones it led to give his nearest attackers an opening. Bella Donna deflected the assault and Gambit woke up to himself.

He charged up his staff and grinned at the nearby ones with a whole new plan of attack. Using his staff as a conduit, he charged up the clothes of those around him. There were only relatively light charges, but they were enough to create holes in their clothes for Rogue to utilise.

Some of the assassins started to realise that Rogue was causing the real trouble, and more turned on her to disable her before getting back to trying to kill Gambit. One ninja (with their clothes still intact) attempted to assault Rogue with his katana, only for Rogue to catch the blade between the palms of her hands. She kicked at him, her toes touching the ninja in the gap in his mask for his eyes, and down he went. Rogue rotated the katana in her hands and continued her assault, using the katana to disable weapons and create openings for herself to absorb more.

Then, at long last, there was only Rogue, Gambit, and Bella Donna still standing. All exhausted, all panting for breath. Rogue and Bella Donna stared each other down.

"Bring it," Bella Donna said challengingly.

Katana and knife clashed against each other, but it was short lived. Rogue's hand only needed to graze across Bella Donna's and she was out of the count. Rogue whirled around to face Gambit...

Her katana stopped a hair's breath short of Gambit's neck...

"Rogue?" he asked.

Breathing hard from her adrenaline fuelled fight, Rogue stared hard at Gambit in silence for what felt like an eternity to him. The one person he believed wouldn't try to kill him...

"Run," Rogue said, throwing the katana away from them like it was burning her hand.

"Chere?"

"Run. Run now," Rogue said with real fear in her eyes, clasping her hands to her chest. "I just absorbed way too many people who want to kill you and I don't know how long I can hold them back."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Gambit picked up Rogue's pink mini dress and tossed it to her.

"Get dressed. We're both leaving," he said.

"Didn't you hear me?" Rogue demanded, ignoring her dress and letting it fall to the floor at her feet. "You have to run now. Without me."

"Hotel management will have been alerted by now, and probably the cops as well," Gambit replied as he stepped amongst the bodies to the bedroom, having a few things to sort out before they could go. "As soon as the cops find you and figure out you're a mutant, they'll have the MRD here faster than you can blink. That's assuming that they don't kill you if you knock one of them unconscious."

"I will kill you!" Rogue screeched at him. "Don't you get that? I am going to kill you."

Gambit didn't respond. He went into the bedroom to grab their things, shoving Rogue's gym bag into their suitcase. He took a quick glance around the room, but their bags were the only personal items in there. When he came back out, Rogue was still standing in the same spot in just her underwear.

"Rogue," he insisted as he set about grabbing their things from the fridge. "Get dressed. We have to go."

"You don't seem to understand," Rogue snarled, her head aching from the effort of holding back the flood of newly acquired personalities. "You need to get away from me."

"Fine, we'll split ways," he said, exasperated and having no intention of going through with it. "But only after we're both away from here and safe. Now will you please get dressed, and maybe give me a hand packing up? I'd rather like for the cops to not be able to track us down."

Rogue swore harshly at him but to his relief, she got dressed. He blew up their garbage, packed their food, and picked up anything else they might have had lying around. Rogue put her shoes back on, but didn't bother about her stockings. All this was taken care of as quickly as humanly possible for two people who were already worn out from a battle that should have given them more than just the minor physical injuries they'd sustained, Rogue's new voices not withstanding.

Gambit took a moment to check his phone and attempt to get back into the hotel surveillance cameras. He was initially troubled when he couldn't, but then concluded that one of the assassins must have taken care of security before coming up.

He donned a pair of black sunglasses, then lead Rogue out of the hotel room, wheeling their suitcase behind them. He looked both ways down the hallway and when he realised that the fire exit door had been opened, he grinned and headed towards it. The problem with elevators in this situation was that there was only one exit.

Gambit did resent the way their footsteps and their bag echoed as they made their way down the stairwell, but they made good time. They didn't stop at the ground floor, but went on one floor below into the parking level. Gambit peered cautiously out of the door. It was hard to say for certain, but it appeared to be empty.

He stopped to fish out a hat for Rogue and his contact lenses. Rogue made no response as he put the hat on her head and made certain to cover her white streak. He put his contact lenses in, and set his sunglasses aside.

As casually as he could with Rogue holding her head and shuddering as she moved, Gambit led them out of the stairwell and through the parking level. Although he wanted to run and get through as quickly as he could, he was determined to appear like they'd checked out that day and were departing as normal.

They got through to the exit without bumping into anyone, and things were quiet outside as well. Gambit hoped the silence just meant that anyone who had evacuated their room was in the foyer. It was a cool evening, and it would be much warmer inside.

Gambit and Rogue were halfway down the block when they spotted the first police car. Gambit kept them walking, though he did the 'curious innocent bystander' thing and watched the car go past, but kept walking. A second and a third on went by, and it took all of Gambit's willpower to keep them walking.

He kept them going until he dared not test Rogue's control any further and steered them into the nearest hotel. He guided Rogue to one of the lounges and set their suitcase in front of her.

"I'm going to get us a room, okay," he said softly. "Stay here. I won't be long."

"I wish you would just leave me," she said, sounding like she wanted to cry.

"We'll be safe soon, I promise."

Gambit straightened and headed for the desk and the clerk who was watching them.

"Do you have any vacancy?" Gambit asked. "I'm afraid I don't have a reservation."

"Certainly," the clerk replied. "And how long will you be staying?"

"Just the night. Ah, but can we get a late check out?"

"Of course."

"Great."

The clerk got the paperwork started and Gambit finished signing things under yet another of his false identities.

"Is there a drug store near here?" Gambit asked as he put his credit card back in his bag. "Or anywhere close that has painkillers?"

"Two blocks that way," the clerk replied, pointing in the relevant direction, and then nodded his head over to Rogue. "Your girlfriend okay?"

"My wife has a migraine," Gambit replied smoothly. "Hence why we're stopping for the night instead of driving through like we planned."

It was tempting to say more, but Gambit knew that over-explaining things was a bad idea. He wondered if he should have even said that much.

The clerk handed Gambit the keycard for their room, and Gambit thanked him and headed back to Rogue. She was shaking and sweat was forming on her forehead.

"We have a room now," he said.

As he guided Rogue back to her feet and grabbed their bag, he tried to play up "loving, caring husband" but also tried to keep from doing anything that might provoke Rogue to attack or otherwise suggest to the clerk that she was a domestic abuse victim.

They got into the elevator and Gambit hit the button for their floor. He looked at Rogue anxiously, wishing it would go faster. He knew he had no way of comprehending what exactly was going on inside her head, but he knew her fear was real, and the effort of keeping herself in check was clearly no simple feat.

The elevator doors mercifully opened at their floor and Gambit was off like a shot to find their room. He had the door opened as Rogue reached it and held it open for her as she walked in.

"Okay," Gambit said, setting their suitcase aside. "I'm going to go now. Here's one of the keys," he put the card down on a nearby small bench top, "in case you need it. I'll be back later okay?"

"Don't come back at all," Rogue told him, her voice haggard as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Gambit didn't reply. He took Rogue's notepad out of her gym bag, then closed the door and left.

* * *

><p>Rogue continued to hold her new personalities at bay for as long as she could, not wanting any of them to decide that it would be worth chasing after Gambit as he was still in the area. For how long she lasted, she didn't know, all she knew was that her head felt like it shattered as the personalities broke through the last of her defences.<p>

Sheer noise filled her head. There was no discerning one voice from another, one personality from the rest. It was all just noise, filling her ears and making it impossible for Rogue to think or even know who she was.

For an eternity she sat on the edge of the bed and lost her sense of self in all the noise. She didn't know where she was or how she came to be there, or even what she was doing.

She wanted silence, but she didn't know what that was. She had a vague impression that she had known once, but the concept was beyond her now.

Her body moved periodically, taken hold of by one personality or another in brief periods. She stood and paced and wandered aimlessly around the room, looking at things but never truly comprehending them.

She opened up the door to the balcony and wandered out, feeling the cool night air on her skin. Some part of her was confused by this, realising that she rarely went outside with so much skin exposed, and that one single thought got through to Rogue, somehow, through all the noise, and a little part of her woke up.

"Shut up," she muttered under her breath, but she couldn't even hear her own voice.

"Shut up," she said again, louder, but still she heard nothing.

"Shut up!" she yelled, clutching at her head.

She leaned over the railing, unable to even hear her own whimpers. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to silence the noise, tried to make them quiet. There were too many, far too many. She couldn't deal with this. She couldn't!

The ground below looked very inviting.

* * *

><p>Gambit opened up the door to the hotel room. It had been an hour and a half since Gambit had left Rogue, and he hoped that was long enough because he really wanted to take out his contacts. Rogue had told him that the logical stuff she picked up from people was the first to go, and since she had taken an hour to write down all the logical stuff she picked up from Sybil Zane, Gambit was hopeful that the desire to kill him would be gone now. After all, the assassins were only after him because of a bounty. It wouldn't have been personal for any of them, except perhaps Bella Donna.<p>

As he stepped inside he looked around the average-sized hotel room and set his bags on the counter. He pulled out the case for his contacts and took out the lenses with much satisfaction. He set the case aside and blinked as he looked around the room again.

"Rogue?" he said, walking further into the room.

He looked through the narrow gap of the curtains onto the balcony. His eyes widened in horror as he saw Rogue half hanging off the railing and he ran towards her. Gambit grabbed Rogue by the waist and pulled her back before she could fall off the edge.

"What the hell?" he demanded, horrified and knowing if he hadn't come back when he did...

"Make them shut up," was her piteous reply, her eyes filled with tears.

Gambit pulled her into him and hugged her close.

"It's okay, Roguey," he said, unaware that she couldn't hear him. "I'm here, and I'm gonna look after you, okay?"

She didn't respond and Gambit hoped he could actually help. He led her back into the room proper and shut and locked the balcony door for good measure. He wasn't worried about any more assassins coming after them that night. Aside from the fact that he imagined that all the assassins in the area were currently in comas, he had given the Hell House a call and had the bounty cancelled while he was out.

Gambit sat with her on the bed for a time, holding her while she cried silent tears. He glanced over at the small bench top near the minibar where he'd left the things he'd acquired (some bought, some stolen) while he was out. If Rogue was going to be like this, then hopefully he wouldn't need to sedate or restrain her after all.

After a time, Rogue seemed to relax, and Gambit carefully laid her on the bed. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't focusing on anything. He didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned, and the idea of calling up the X-Men (who would have had more experience in Rogue's mutation than he did) never even occurred to him.

Gambit made his way back over to their things. There was some cold stuff in their bag he really should have thought to put in the mini fridge before, but it was a cool enough evening that he figured they'd be okay. When he opened up the fridge, he discovered it was empty, and only after he'd put their things in did he notice the note on top that said that the hotel was phasing out the mini bars, and if they wanted anything to call their 24 hour room service. He glanced over the menu, then picked up a form for ordering breakfast. No longer concerned about being poisoned, Gambit filled out the form, ordering breakfast for them both, and hung it on the outside of the hotel door.

Rogue got up from the bed and Gambit watched as she walked with apparent determination to the window. For a moment he was concerned that she was going to go outside and try jumping off the balcony again, but she seemed more interested in peering through the curtains. She stepped back and walked over to the wardrobe, then seemed disturbed when she couldn't find whatever it was she was looking for. Finally Rogue looked directly at Gambit and stared at him in shock.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Umm, I'm Remy and I booked the hotel room?" Gambit replied, somewhat perplexed.

"This is my room!" she insisted.

"Yeah... It's both our room," he said.

"No, no, I never—" Rogue began, and then her entire demeanour changed before Gambit's eyes. "Why hello there, handsome."

"Hi..." Gambit replied slowly.

Rogue swaggered over to him where he leaned against the bench top. She ran her fingers up his chest.

"So, what brings you here?" she asked.

"Uh, you do?" Gambit said, wondering what in the world was going on.

"Aww," Rogue said, lifting her other finger to her lips as she batted her eyes at him. "You came all this way just for little ol' me?"

"I'd go to hell and back for you, chere," he replied grandiosely

Rogue's hand faltered in its travels and her finger fell from her lip. She met his eyes with a knowing look, as if she had known him a lot longer than just a week.

"You say that, but we both know it's not true," Rogue replied, her voice affecting a familiar tone and rhythm. "You left me."

Gambit frowned and Rogue shook her head at his silence.

"What, got nothing to say?" she asked. "No, of course you don't. You never have been able to admit it when you're wrong."

She turned her back on him and walked into the middle of the room. "We should be celebrating our first anniversary by now."

Gambit's eyes widened. "Belle?"

"Instead we're in some cheap hotel like..." Rogue trailed off and frowned. "How did we get here?"

He didn't know what to say, suddenly feeling completely out of his depth. He and Rogue had discussed her mutation only hours earlier, yet while she mentioned that she acquired the personalities of her victims, she never said a thing about those personalities taking over her body. Yet, that was the only way he could explain her current behaviour, and certainly the only way he could explain her impression of Bella Donna.

"What are you staring at, punk?" Rogue demanded, her tone and demeanour changed once more.

Gambit gave a shrug and casually moved over to their suitcase. Perhaps he thought too soon about not needing to sedate and/or restrain Rogue. If he was right about the personalities taking over Rogue's body, then they may both be in danger regardless of the bounty.

"Don't ignore me," Rogue insisted, stalking over to Gambit as he pulled out his full-fingered gloves.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Gambit replied, putting on the gloves to cut down on the chances of Rogue absorbing him by accident.

"I don't like..." Rogue began menacingly, then her eyes grew wide as she looked into Gambit's red and black ones, she gave a horrified cry, and scampered off to the other side of the room to hide in the corner under the table.

Gambit shook his head and blinked. He could not imagine any of the assassins who came after him that night reacting like that! He scratched his head, then remembered that Rogue has said something about not picking up 'everything' from the people she absorbed.

He fished out the sleeping tablets he'd bought as well as a bottle of water. He carefully made his way over to Rogue and sat down on the floor across from her. Rogue hugged her legs to her chest and eyed him warily.

"I have something for you," he said and handed over the bottle of water. "It's not been opened. It's safe."

Rogue eyed the water like it was a snake. Slowly she reached out her arm and clasped the bottle. She drew it to her chest quickly. As she opened up the bottle to take a sip, Gambit wondered how to present the tablets.

Abruptly, Rogue spit out the water, looked at the bottle and swore. Gambit raised his eyebrows as Rogue discarded the bottle and got out from under the table, muttering about wanting some beer. He grabbed the bottle and capped it again.

"Why is there no beer in this place?" Rogue demanded as she looked through the fridge.

Gambit walked over as Rogue pulled out the white wine. A sneer appeared on her face and for a moment Gambit thought she was going to make some disparaging comment, but then her expression brightened.

"Don't mind if I do," she said and as she lifted her head she saw Gambit. "Oh hey, I was just about to help myself. Want some?"

Gambit hesitated, not really sure if Rogue needed to be drinking right now. He wished he knew more about her alcohol tolerance.

"Umm, no thanks, not right now," he said finally.

"All the more for me," Rogue said.

She put the bottle aside and went looking for a glass. She could only find the mugs that had been left for tea and coffee, and reluctantly poured the wine into one of those. While she was so occupied, Gambit began discreetly unwrapping some of his other purchases from their packaging. With Rogue chopping and changing personalities so quickly, he wanted to have quick and easy access to all his options.

"Sooo," Rogue said, after taking a sip of her wine, looking at the bag Gambit had his hand in. "Whatcha got there?"

"Oh just a little shopping. By the way," Gambit said, picking up the packet of sleeping tablets as a moment of inspiration hit him. "I got the pills you wanted."

Rogue frowned a little as she took the package. Her frown deepened as she took in the label.

"Oh," she said as her tone and demeanour changed once more. "Sorry, this is the over the counter stuff. I should have given you my prescription."

She lifted the mug to her lips, sipped, then shuddered and looked at the contents. "What the hell? This isn't coffee. Who puts wine in a coffee cup? Ugh."

"Well, they should at least help you tonight, right?" Gambit asked her as she put the mug down.

"No no, I used to take them all the time and well, let's just say they don't help with my insomnia anymore," Rogue replied shaking her head. "I'll just have to make do."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that," Gambit replied, setting the packet aside, disappointed that method hadn't worked. Perhaps with the next personality?

Rogue didn't respond. Instead she lifted up her arm and frowned at the long sleeve.

"Why am I wearing pink?" she asked. "I hate pink."

She looked down at herself, taking in her attire.

"I'm in a dress?" she exclaimed, and proceeded to swear about how she hated dresses and the colour pink while she removed the offending item from her person.

Gambit watched anxiously, seeing the chances of accidental absorption going up as Rogue stripped off. Her personalities wouldn't be aware of how dangerous her skin was.

"Oh hello," Rogue said, looking down at her chest. "Wow, they're huge. It's like they tripled overnight... They're not implants are they?" she gave herself a good squeeze. "Nope, definitely not implants."

Gambit chewed his bottom lip, really not sure what to do. He wasn't even sure what to make of Rogue fondling her own breasts. It wasn't even really Rogue doing it, it was someone else who thought they were doing it to their own body. He didn't know if this counted as masturbation or sexual assault.

"So, you gonna watch?" Rogue asked, lifting her head to look at him, sounding coy, "or you gonna join in?"

He cleared his throat and then reached into one of his bags and pulled out a pair of leopard-print fur-lined handcuffs. There had been an 'adult store' around the corner from the pharmacy and it occurred to Gambit that if Rogue was out to kill him when he returned to the hotel, that he may have to physically restrain her if she couldn't sedate her. He thanked the BDSM community for allowing such things to be so easily acquired.

"Oooh," Rogue said, a saucy smile on her lips as she swaggered over to him. "Are those for you or for me?"

"Which would you prefer?" he asked with a shrug, knowing the first thing he had to do was get Rogue somewhere he could restrain her to, preferably before she had another personality change.

Rogue's eyes glittered gleefully, not noticing Gambit's other hand retrieve the second pair of handcuffs from the bag.

"I think you know perfectly well what I want, you naughty boy," she said, taking the first pair of handcuffs from him.

Gambit had no idea how she got to that conclusion as the only assassin she had absorbed that night who Gambit knew was Bella Donna. But perhaps one or some of the others were in the habit of hooking up with random strangers or prostitutes for kinky fun times. It didn't really matter just so long as Rogue got through the night safely. He owed her that much.

Rogue grabbed Gambit by the shirt and pulled him over to the bed, which had a bar across the headboard they could use. As she pushed him down, Gambit discreetly put the second pair of handcuffs under the pillow. Rogue attempted to straddle him, but he rolled her over and slung his leg over her side.

"You don't think I'm going to make it easy for you, do you?" he asked her slyly.

"You're lucky you're cute," Rogue replied with a dangerous glint in her eye.

"So I'm told."

Both their hands were up by the bar and Gambit worked to keep Rogue distracted and not looking at their hands. She got one of the cuffs around his hand, and his other hand fished the other cuffs from under the pillow. Rogue frowned when she felt cuffs close around her wrist and by the time she looked up, it was too late, her other hand had been cuffed as well.

Rogue swore at Gambit as he pulled away. He sighed as he walked over to the bag to grab the keys.

"I really am sorry," he said sincerely, unlocking the cuff around his own wrist. "It's only until morning, I promise."

Rogue's voice was cut off-mid-expletive. She tugged on the cuffs, then grinned at Gambit.

"You always know how to get me going," she said, and Gambit figured that a new personality had taken over, one who was turned on by being restrained like this. "So, you gonna to my legs as well, or do they get to roam free?"

Gambit glanced down at the foot of the bed. It was too low and there wasn't a bar or anything like the headboard.

"Doesn't appear to be anything I can cuff you to," he said, with mixed feelings.

"Hmm, pity," Rogue said playfully. "Never know what I might do if you don't stop me."

Gambit didn't reply, hoping he'd done the right thing. He just wanted Rogue to be able to get through this without hurting anyone, especially herself. She'd saved his life multiple times at risk to her own, and now she was paying for it.

Rogue wriggled around on the bed and Gambit didn't think anything of it at first, until she managed to manoeuvrer herself around so that her legs were spread and pressed against the headboard with her hands between them. Gambit's eyes widened when he realised what she was about to do, though he didn't get to her before she grabbed herself. She swore.

"Where is it?" she said, panicking. "Where's my cock? Someone stole my cock!"

Rogue felt herself up and started swearing and generally freaking out about not having the genitalia she was expecting to have. Gambit moved in, marginally amused, and wondering why it never occurred to him that some of the personalities Rogue had been exhibiting were male. The hitman industry was male dominated, and at least two thirds of the assassins that had attacked them that evening had been male. Well, two-thirds of the ones whose biological sex they could easily identify anyway.

"Shh, shh," Gambit said, grabbing her hands with his gloved ones and pulling them away from herself, not wanting any of the neighbours to overhear. "You're... you're fine, okay? Everything's fine."

He wasn't sure if that was even going to help. If he reached down into his own pants and discovered things were not as they should be, he'd probably freak out too.

"You're okay, Rogue," he said determinedly. "You're just fine. Everything's just fine."

There was a gasp of breath and Rogue's eyes met his.

"Remy?" she said.

"Rogue?" he asked nervously. "That you?"

"Y-yeah, I think so," she said, looking around, and taking in the fact that she was wearing nothing but her underwear and handcuffed in an awkward position on a bed with Gambit's hands holding hers just a little too close.

"I'm sure this looks really bad," Gambit said, well aware just how bad things might look. "But it's not, I mean, well, it is bad, but not for the reason that you might think—"

"It's okay, Remy," Rogue assured him, though not without distress in her voice. "I don't black out when newly acquired personalities take over. Though sometimes it's hard to tell what's memories and what's realities."

Gambit nodded. "I just... You said that it takes some time for the voices to quiet down. I just... You seemed so certain that you would try to kill me, so I—"

"Yeah, you shouldn't have come back," Rogue insisted. "I told you to leave me."

"And when I came back you were about to throw yourself off the balcony," Gambit retorted.

Rogue frowned. "That was real, was it?"

"Yeah, that was real. One of her personalities is suicidal?" he asked. It wouldn't surprise him.

"No..." Rogue said slowly. "I think that might have been me, actually. It's never been this noisy in my head before. It's better now but it's still pretty loud. I... I've never tried to kill myself before."

Gambit gently rubbed her fingers, noting how troubled she sounded.

"I picked up some sleeping tablets," he said. "Did you want one?"

Rogue considered for a moment. "No, I think if I did, I might not know who I am in the morning. Umm, I would like to get out of this position though."

Gambit nodded and backed away so that Rogue could disentangle herself and lay on the bed properly. "Are you okay with the handcuffs? I can take them off again if you're not comfortable—"

"No, no they're fine. A good idea," Rogue said, "although I wish I was wearing more than underwear."

"I'll cover you with the blankets," Gambit said, and as he got up off the bed to do so, his eyes fell on the nearby table and chairs. "Hey, those chairs have bars on them... If you want I could station a chair at the foot of the bed and handcuff your feet to that. Umm... That is, if you—"

"Please," Rogue replied agreeably. "I do not want that last guy groping me again. Or any of the others."

"I don't blame you," Gambit said, picking up one of the chairs and bringing it over. "Is there anything else I can do?"

Rogue shook her head. "No. I'm going to have to ride this out on my own."

"Well," Gambit said, as he cuffed her ankles to the chair. "If you need anything at all, just let me know. I'll be here."

Rogue nodded. Silence fell between them while Gambit covered her up with the bedclothes and did everything else he could to keep her comfortable.

"Remy?" Rogue said. "Would you talk to me?"

Gambit glanced at her. "Sure. What about?"

"I don't know. Anything," she said. "Just... talk to me. It's easier to tune out the voices when I have something outside of me to focus on."

"Okay sure," Gambit said, moving around to lay on the other side of the bed. "Well, umm, let's see... What to talk about?"

"What about... Why were you kicked out of the Thieves Guild?" Rogue asked him.

Gambit glanced at Rogue. "You picked that up from Bella Donna, huh?"

"Yeah, but the details are fuzzy."

"It's a long story."

"I have plenty of time."

Gambit was reluctant to discuss that particular topic, but having no better ideas for discussion and figuring she already knew part of it anyway, he began his tale. Since Rogue was right about all the time they had, he started from the beginning of the beginning, and told Rogue how he and Bella Donna had met as children. Then he was adopted but when Bella Donna realised they were now part of rival families, they kept their friendship secret, or as secret as two ten-year-olds were capable of. Eventually their relationship was found out, but instead of their parents forbidding them from seeing each other, a marriage was arranged instead.

"Her older brother Julian hated me," Gambit said. "He was out to stop the wedding the day it was announced, and his preferred method of getting it called off was by trying to kill me."

Gambit explained that after the marriage was announced he'd started having a lot of near death experiences. After awhile, he'd noticed a pattern, in that they always seemed to happen when it was reasonable to assume that members of the Assassins Guild knew where he was.

"'Course we couldn't prove that it was Julian," Gambit went on. "But I knew it was him, all the same. Belle knew too, but she couldn't do anything. Their father wouldn't believe that Julian was trying to kill me. So Belle started teaching me the ways of the Assassins so I would know how to defend myself. I taught her the ways of the Thief too. We figured it was only fair. 'Sides we were going to get married and unite the Guilds anyway, so what did it matter if we knew each other's trades?"

Because of Bella Donna's training, Gambit took up practising Mithridatism. He wasn't immune to every natural poison, but he was working on it. He would still be vulnerable to anything artificially created, however.

"And I figured that you would not be in the habit of deliberately ingesting small does of poison in order to render yourself immune, and anyone intending to use poison probably wouldn't care if they got both of us," Gambit said. "So, yeah, hence why I got so cautious about food."

Julian hadn't been deterred from trying to kill Gambit, but his constant failures clearly got to him.

"He stopped trying to be subtle. He only needed to make sure that his father didn't get evidence of his involvement. Wedding ended up being delayed twice 'cause he got me in hospital," Gambit said irritably. "Then when the wedding day—the third one—finally happened, he challenged me to a dual right there, in front of everyone. Guess he finally reached his wits end. Only, I won the fight, and he died. And instead of a marriage, the Guilds declared peace over the loss of their sons: Julian's death, and me exiled."

"That's quite a story," Rogue said. "No wonder you're so confident about being able to handle assassins."

"Yeah, this last year's been a little weird with not having to watch my back," Gambit said slyly. "Not that I was on my toes all the time back then, mind you. I did travel a bit and Julian didn't always know where to find me. Once we figured out he was out to get me, I did everything I could to keep my movements quiet."

"Still, it was pretty harsh, your family kicking you out like that," Rogue said.

"Yeah. You'll excuse me if I'm in no rush to go joining anyone else any time soon," Gambit replied. "You know, like the X-Men. Not that I'm not grateful for your help. Far from it. I just..."

"I get it. Once bitten, twice shy," Rogue assured him. "And we didn't decide to help you in order to persuade you to join us."

"Why did you decide to help me?"

"As far as we knew, Senator Kelly wanted you dead. That was reason enough to keep you alive," Rogue replied, feeling a little awkward.

"Hmm. How did you find out anyway? About Sybil putting the bounty on my head?"

"Trade secret," Rogue replied blithely, "Speaking of Sybil, what is the current bounty situation?"

"I called the Hell House and cancelled the bounty using that software I told you about," Gambit said. "She's in hospital right now. I sneaked into the hospital and left a note with her purse in the secure storage. It just says that the bounty has been cancelled and if she tries to reinstate it, I'll put a bounty on her head for three times the amount."

"Nice."

"I think when she does hear about the twenty-or-so assassins that were found knocked out in our last hotel, she may think twice about bothering me again."

"I think so too."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Hours later, Rogue woke up. Her arms were cold and she was generally feeling a little stiff from being stuck in the same position for so long. The voices in Rogue's head were down to a dull roar now, for which she was pleased. Overall they were louder than she was used to newly acquired voices being after this much time, but she put it down to the number of them.

She turned her head and saw Gambit asleep beside her. True to his word, he stayed and talked to her all night, or at least until they drifted off into natural sleep. She smiled to herself, remembering something they'd said that night.

_"Okay so, running out of things to say..." Gambit said. "Umm..."_

_"Have you given that favour I owe you any thought?" Rogue asked. "You know, the one for winning my clothes at poker."_

_"I... I really don't think I have any business holding you to that, chere. Not after tonight. You don't owe me a thing."_

_"That poker game had nothing to do with this."_

_"Still..." he trailed off, but continued before Rogue could fill the silence: "I have a little confession to make."_

_"Oh?"_

_Gambit looked away from her as he spoke. "You remember the first time you asked me about the favour, and I said I hadn't thought about it and I just like to collect favours?"_

_"Yeah..."_

_"Well, okay it's true that I do like to collect favours, but see, the truth was... I was planning on asking you to let me touch your naked boobs."_

_Rogue raised her eyebrows. "Oh were you now? And you didn't because?"_

_"I didn't want you to put me in the same category as Deadpool," Gambit said. "I didn't want... Okay, I'll admit I was in a perverted mood when the idea came to me, but I didn't want to ask you, and for you to oblige me and hate me afterwards. Or not oblige me and hate me afterwards. I wanted you to enjoy the experience just as much as I intended to."_

_"Huh," Rogue mused. "You should have asked me. I would have said yes."_

_Gambit raised his eyebrows. "You would have?"_

_"I was in a mood."_

_He grumbled, then sighed. "Ah, well, I stand by my decision."_

Gambit stirred beside her and she smiled at him.

"Morning sugar," she said.

He made a few grunting noises, then rolled over to face her and opened his eyes. He looked at her face for a moment, then his gaze drifted up her arms to look at her hands still handcuffed to the headboard.

"Morning," he replied. "How you feeling?"

"Better," she said. "I'm past the worst of it now."

"Good. Guess I'll grab the keys," Gambit said, and pushed himself up off the bed.

"That would be appreciated," Rogue replied with a grin.

With a yawn, and a glance at the clock, Gambit wandered over to the bench where he'd left the keys and came back. He unlocked her feet, since he reached those first, then unlocked her hands. He was still wearing his clothes from the night before, aside from his shoes. Rogue sat up stiffly and rubbed her wrists. She was glad the handcuffs were fur-lined. She couldn't imagine how sore her wrists and ankles would have been had they been police-issue handcuffs.

"Much better," she said, standing up and rotating her back and shoulders.

"Good," Gambit replied, setting the handcuffs aside. "I ordered breakfast for us, by the way. We have an hour before it gets here though. But I also organised a late check out, so we don't have to leave until 2."

Rogue nodded. "Plenty of time to ourselves then."

"Yeah—" and that was as far as Gambit got, for Rogue chose that moment to reach around and unhook her bra.

"You said you wanted to touch them," Rogue said, dropping her bra to the floor.

Gambit took a deep breath. "Please tell me that's you, Rogue, talking, and not another possession."

Rogue grinned at him and reached for his gloved hands. "Yeah, it's me, Rogue, talking. And I'm in a mood."

He grinned back as Rogue guided his hands to her chest, and chuckled lightly as Rogue sighed at the contact.

"Don't tell me someone discovered she has a kink for being tied up," Gambit said teasingly, moving in closer as he caressed her.

"I already have to practice restraint," Rogue replied, running her hands along his covered arms. "I don't need any more."

"Hmm restraint," Gambit mused, his lips lowering towards hers even knowing it was a bad idea. "Good thing I'm not a greedy thief, or I could be in trouble."

And with that need for restraint in his mind, Gambit turned her around and continued his fondling from behind. Not only was it more comfortable for his hands, but he also wasn't tempted to do things with his mouth he couldn't do without being absorbed. Rogue gasped for breath as he squeezed her, her limbs seeming to move of their own accord trying to find some purchase.

He murmured suggestions into her ear until she couldn't handle the pulsing between her legs any more. She turned and pushed him up against the wall with force, and he grinned wickedly at her.

"Damn you," she muttered, her hands propped on the wall either side of his head. "Less than 24 hours ago, I was apologising for leading you on and now you're the one teasing me with all the things we can't do—"

"Oh, I'm not leading you on, chere," Gambit assured her, running his gloved hands along her sides. "We can go as far and as fast as you want. Told you as much yesterday."

"Damn this, damn you," she said, all the while pressing her body into him even as her mind objected. "I want you. I've never wanted anyone so bad in my life."

"I want you too. There's not a thing about you that doesn't turn me on," Gambit replied while his hands continued to caress Rogue in ways that made her body careen in pleasure. "Just say the word, ma chere."

Rogue hesitated. She really wanted to but...

"Or do you think I'm going to leave you as soon as you've become 'another notch on my belt?'" Gambit suggested coolly when she didn't respond.

Rogue caught his eyes as his hands slowed. "I want to be romanced, damnit. Not jump into bed with some guy I've only known a week who claims he can get around my mutation. You were supposed to be..."

Gambit frowned as she trailed off. "I was supposed to be what?"

She sighed, hating all the mixed feelings he inspired in her, and loving all of them just the same.

"No one ever really looked twice at me, knowing about my mutation, Not until you... and Deadpool I guess," she said. "I just thought... You're a sexy guy, Remy. That suave sexy bad boy who can get any woman he wants, if that cliché really exists. I just figured... You might be the closest I ever get to the real thing."

Gambit was quiet for a moment as he looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time. The woman standing before him had already determined that he would be her "only" even before he'd ever made the decision to steal her heart. This woman, this sassy, loving woman, who had risked her life for him multiple times over the last week, who had absorbed more people than could be considered 'safe' just to save the life of a man who had sold out his own kind, thought that she could never have a real romance with anyone. She was a hero, an honest-to-goodness hero. She deserved all the happiness in the world. He didn't deserve her at all.

"As I said, we can go as far and as fast as you want," he said. "I'm going to take you out on that proper first date like I've been saying from the beginning, regardless of what we do now, and a second and a third, and as many dates as you want until you get sick of me."

"I couldn't get sick of you."

"You don't know that. You've only known me a week. I'm told I can be very annoying," he replied, and lifted one hand to touch her cheek. "Can't promise you eternity. Can't promise you a thing, 'cept I ain't gonna love you and leave you. You'll never be 'another notch on the belt' to me."

Rogue closed her eyes, sighed, and put his hands back on her breasts again. He smiled even as he studied her expression.

"If you back track on those dates Swamp Rat, I swear I will drain you dry," she said irritably.

"We don't have to do this if you don't trust me," he assured her. "Whatever you want—"

"I don't trust you and I do trust you and I want you and don't want you and I hate you and love you and I have never been so damn mixed up about anyone in my life," she practically snarled. "Do something!"

Gambit grinned at her. "You have a thin white top, right?"

Rogue frowned, taken aback by the question. "Yeah..."

"Put it on."

"Why?"

"I'm going to pour water over it and—"

"You can already see my breasts."

"Yes, but I can't suck them."

Rogue blinked as she took in that comment and the coy look on Gambit's face. She was off him in a flash, throwing open their suitcase and looking for her white undershirt, tossing out other clothes as she searched. He grinned and grabbed the water bottle off the table where he'd left it. He wasn't going to do a single thing with Rogue that he thought she might regret later, but he was going to do everything within his power to make her feel good.

He grabbed a towel from the bathroom and laid it folded over once on one side of the bed just below the pillow. He then gestured to the bed with a grin at Rogue, who had put her shirt on when she finally found it.

"Whenever you're ready," he said.

Rogue grinned excitedly and nervously back at him, and lay down on the bed. Gambit waited until she was settled, then carefully poured the water over her chest: enough to soak her shirt without making the towel beneath unnecessarily wet. He set the water bottle aside on the bedside table, then straddled Rogue. He took a moment at admire the view, then wrapped his lips around one of Rogue's nipples through her wet shirt.

As his mouth attended to her breasts, his hands firmly roamed her stomach and hips. Rogue wanted to touch Gambit as well, but she could only safely and easily reach his shoulders and upper arms. Her legs shifted between his as he drove her body crazy in a way she never could have imagined.

She tried to pull up her legs to get them out from underneath his, regretting that she had lain down with them together instead of apart. She wanted to wrap her legs around him like she had the day before.

"Remy," she said breathlessly.

"Mmm?" he murmured in reply, his mouth still locked with her breast, sending vibrations over it.

Rogue made an inarticulate noise that had Gambit chuckling, which only served to exasperate the delicious sensations delighting her.

"I... I need..." she stammered, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say. "Move your legs."

Gambit lifted his head with a slight frown. "Okay..."

The moment his left leg moved up enough, Rogue's right leg had pulled out and wrapped around his waist. Gambit grinned, finally realising what she was actually after, and moved his legs so that he was lying between hers.

"Better?" he asked, his hands firmly on her hips as she wrapped her left leg around him as well.

"Much."

He returned back to his previous activity, that is, trying to drive Rogue wild with pleasure. He delighted in the sounds of his success, her breathlessness, the rock of her hips beneath his weight, the arching of her back to press her breast further into his mouth.

He was just reaching over to pour some more water on her chest when Rogue pushed him, rolling him over onto the bed. He grinned at her as she straddled him across his pelvis. She delighted in the feel of the bulge in his pants pressing into her.

Gambit, although he loved seeing Rogue rock above him, eventually got frustrated with not being able to touch her aside from her knees. Rogue found herself laying on her side on the bed, with one leg draped over him. Gambit ran his fingers slowly over Rogue's neck, along the path he would kiss if that had been possible.

So enthralled they were in each other's touch, tempting fate by a few near misses of skin on skin contact that Gambit had been certain would cause Rogue to recoil, that they quite lost track of time. The next thing they knew, there was a knock on the door and a male voice calling through "room service."

"They're early," Gambit said, lifting his head from Rogue's breast, and glanced at the clock. "Oh, no they're not."

"I'm going to go have a really quick shower," Rogue said as Gambit got up from on top of her.

"Alright."

He grabbed his sunglasses, not having time to put his contacts in, and waited until Rogue had dashed off to the bathroom with the towel before opening up the door. The attendant brought in the tray and set it on the table. Gambit gave him an average tip, not wanting to be remembered for being too stingy or generous, and the attendant left.

Rogue soon emerged from the bathroom again and Gambit politely looked away while she dressed. Rogue resisted the urge to wear her mesh nightgown and instead put on some actual clothes. She was fast enough that her breakfast was still hot when she joined Gambit at the table.

"I hope you don't mind me ordering for you," Gambit said as Rogue lifted the silver dome lid off her plate. "You weren't really in a state for me to ask last night."

"It's fine, I'd eat this," Rogue replied, picking up her fork to start on her eggs. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, I'd imagine you'd want to go home," Gambit replied with a shrug, tearing apart his sourdough bread.

"Yeah, I should give them a call actually," Rogue said thoughtfully. "If they heard about last night they'd want to know if we're okay or not."

She set her fork back down again and went looking for her phone. Gambit continued eating while Rogue sat back down at the table and dialled Scott's number.

"Rogue, that you?" Scott asked upon answering his phone.

"Yep," Rogue replied, resisting the urge to make a joke about being the tooth fairy. "We had a bit of a late night last night, so—"

"Yeah, we heard. That is, we assumed the news story about the 22 unconscious bodies found in a hotel room in Oklahoma had something to do with you," Scott said. "Jean tried to check up on you, but she couldn't find either of you."

"22 you say? I wasn't sure," Rogue said. "And I absorbed every one of them, so I'm guessing that's why Jean couldn't find me."

"Jean thought that might be the case too. You two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. And we got that damn bounty lifted too. Gambit also got a message to Sybil Zane advising her not to reinstate the bounty, so... I guess she'll either heed his warning or she won't."

"Alright. So what's the plan now? You talked Gambit into joining us yet?"

"No, he's still not interested," Rogue said with a glance towards Gambit. "And I think we're just going to laze around in the hotel until check out or something. It's been a hectic few days."

"When's check out?"

"Two."

"Alright, we'll pick you up then," Scott said firmly. "Use this time to try to talk Gambit into joining us. You know what the Professor said: we need him."

"Believe me, I haven't forgotten," Rogue replied, and then her irritated expression became sly. "I'll be sure to do my very best to try to persuade Gambit to join us, don't you worry. And you can tell Logan I said that."

Gambit raised his eyebrows at her and she gave him a wink.

"Speaking of which," Scott went on, oblivious to Rogue's implication, "have you called him yet?"

"No, so you might want to get him off diversion duty."

"Will do."

They spoke only a little longer and then hung up. Rogue set her phone down and eagerly dug into her breakfast.

"So you're going to persuade me to join the X-Men, huh?" Gambit asked her musingly. "How exactly were you planning on doing that?"

Rogue shrugged with a sly twinkle in her eye, more interested in eating than in doing any more talking. Gambit chuckled. He picked up his coffee and as he sipped it, he wondered. If the invitation to join the X-Men was just an open one, why were they so interested in persuading him to join?

"Rogue," he said, putting his coffee cup back down. "Why are the X-Men so eager for me to join them?"

Rogue looked up at him and swallowed.

"It's not just an open invitation is it?" he asked. "You specifically want me."

Rogue was quiet for a moment, filling her fork with more eggs.

"I can't really tell you," she said reluctantly, deciding that she really didn't want to lie to him, and that wouldn't do them any good anyway. "Not without giving away private X-Men information. But I... Look, the thing is... Don't tell any of the X-Men I've told you this."

"My lips are sealed," Gambit replied, eyeing her curiously.

Rogue took a deep breath. "We received information that you were going to die in your ski cabin and we were told that—I know this is going to sound crazy—we were told that the future needs you alive."

Gambit blinked. "The future needs me?"

"Yeah," Rogue said. "We don't know how or why, our source—who's been proven to be reliable mind you—wouldn't say what exactly it was that you were supposed to do, only that we had to prevent your death."

"I see," Gambit said with a frown.

"There was no... Our source didn't actually say you had to join us, only that it would be preferable. As long as you lived, that was the main thing," Rogue said, and sighed. "I'm sorry. This probably sounds fantastic and made up. I swear, I'm telling the truth."

Gambit picked up his coffee again. When he didn't reply, Rogue went back to her breakfast, mentally kicking herself. She wasn't sure she should have said anything, but she still didn't think trying to dismiss his question was a good idea.

"So," he said finally, "I'm like the Chosen One or something? Like John Conner or Harry Potter?"

Rogue blinked and glanced up at him. "I... I guess... Maybe... Like I said, I don't know what exactly is expected of you."

"Hmm..." he considered, a gleeful grin appearing on his face. "Actually after dealing with all those assassins, I think I could call myself 'The Boy Who Lived' too."

Rogue did not know what to do with the turn in the conversation.

"Ooh, and if I'm Harry Potter, then you can be Ginny," Gambit went on.

"Ginny? I don't think so," Rogue said firmly. "I'm Hermione."

Gambit pouted playfully. "But Harry hooks up with Ginny. And I really wanna hook up with you."

"Well, that's just... I'm not Ginny. I ain't the girl who sits around at home while her man goes off to be the big hero," Rogue insisted.

"Do you want to be called a know-it-all all the time and marry Ron?" Gambit asked her. "I mean, it's Ron."

"Marrying the main character's best friend was way less cliché than marrying the main character," Rogue replied. "And I can totally handle being called a know-it-all if it means I'm always right."

"Whatever. We need to get Harry and Hermione costumes and role play our own AU in the bedroom sometime," Gambit replied.

"You serious?" Rogue asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Sure, why not? At least one of us has to be clothed anyway. May as well have some fun with it," Gambit said with a shrug, then added slyly: "50 points to Gryffindor."

"That's just..." Rogue trailed off, considered for a moment, then said: "That's actually a really good idea."

Gambit chuckled as Rogue ate some more of her breakfast with a thoughtful expression on her face. It occurred to her then that there was something Gambit had said within the first 24 hours of their meeting that didn't add up with something he'd told her the night before.

"Do you often role play in the bedroom?" she asked after a couple of mouthfuls.

"Not really," Gambit replied with a shrug. "Only once or twice. Belle was never interested."

"Hmm," Rogue considered. "What about that ex who liked skiing?"

"Huh?" Gambit looked at her blankly.

"You know, the one whose pants you wanted to get into that you took up to the ski cabin?" Rogue said lightly.

"The ski cabin was a safehouse, chere. You don't take guests to safehouses, not for reasons like that. That's just asking for people to find you. Why would you think..." Gambit's eyes widened as he remembered. "Oh crap."

Rogue grinned broadly. "So there was no daughter who was a big _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ fan? Hmm... I wonder how that box set ended up there then."

Gambit groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Remy's a brony," Rogue teased him in a sing-song voice.

"Don't, just don't," Gambit said, holding one hand up to her.

"Are you going to ask me to dress up as Applejack?" Rogue asked. "Because—"

"No!" Gambit exclaimed, lifting his head and meeting her eyes. "No. I just like the show, okay? I don't have any sexual interest in the ponies whatsoever. I don't fantasise about them, I don't collect the merchandise, I don't try to marry pony plushies, I don't look for pony porn, I don't do any of that. Okay, this is why I don't tell anyone. I just like the show."

Rogue grinned at him, having thoroughly enjoyed his reaction. "I just like the show too. I also liked your reaction."

Gambit glowered at her. Rogue giggled.

"We never did get to finish watching the series," she said. "We're going to have to sit down and do that sometime."

Gambit eyed her warily. "If anyone walks in on us, I will tell them I'm only watching it to make you happy."

"That won't fly with Wolverine."

"I don't care. I'm still going to tell him that."

* * *

><p>Logan was comfortably sitting in a bedroom above a bar in New Orleans. His feet were up on the coffee table as he watched <em>My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic<em> on the small TV in the room. Later he would go out, drink at the bar downstairs and generally splash the name Robert Lord around a bit.

His phone rang and Logan hurriedly pressed the pause button on the TV.

"What?" Logan demanded, somewhat annoyed at having been interrupted only a couple of minutes towards the end of the episode and in the middle of Pinkie Pie's One Pony Band routine too.

"We just heard from, Rogue," Scott said, ignoring Logan's tone. "She and Gambit are safe and the bounty's been cancelled."

"Bout time," Logan muttered.

"They're going to stay at their hotel until check out, which isn't until 2, and then we'll at least pick up Rogue, Hopefully Gambit too. Rogue says he's still not interested in joining, but she said to tell you that she was planning on using the time between now and then to persuade him," Scott went on. "You want us to pick you up?"

"Sure, whenever you're ready."

"We'll text you."

They hung up. Logan finished watching the rest of the episode and then packed up his few belongings. He carried these down with him into the bar, which wasn't yet open for the day, but soon to be. He wandered over to the bartender, who was busy making final preparations for the bar to open.

"Just got word the problem's been sorted," Logan said, handing over the key to his room. "I'll be departing soon. You can let our mutual friend know that his son's safe. For now anyway."

The bartender nodded and accepted the key back.

Logan made his way out of the bar, a front for the Thieves Guild. The Guild had been rather disturbed to find out that "Robert Lord" was in town, and then relieved when they confirmed that it was Wolverine, not Gambit who was around. No one actually said outright, but Logan figured out for himself that Gambit had been exiled, something Logan decided to keep in mind.

As he headed off to his motorcycle, it occurred to him that Scott just told him that Rogue was planning on persuading Gambit to join the X-Men while in a hotel room. He stopped short and growled under his breath.

* * *

><p>Just after two, Logan and Scott arrived at the hotel, where they found Rogue and Gambit chatting to Courier in the foyer. Rogue had the suitcase by her side, and Gambit had the gym bag over his shoulder, and was holding a cardboard box in his hands.<p>

"And if you ever need a courier, here's my number," Courier was saying to Rogue as he handed over a business card. "Alternatively, if you ever need a sympathetic ear to bitch about Remy to, you can also call me to commiserate."

Rogue gave a laugh as she accepted the card. "Thanks."

Gambit gave her a nudge. "He's Ron."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Rogue retorted while Courier gave them a curious look, then she grinned at Logan and Scott. "Hey guys. This is Courier. Oh, and Cyclops, this is Gambit, Gambit, Cyclops."

Gambit held out his hand to Scott. "Thanks for letting me borrow your appearance for a bit."

Scott gave a nod as he looked Gambit over, seeing some similarities but not convinced of how well Gambit would be able to impersonate him. "If it kept you alive, then it was worth it. But don't make a habit of it, okay?"

"You're pretty safe as long as you don't decide to grow your hair out," Gambit replied slyly.

"I still can't believe you cut your hair," Courier muttered.

"I'll keep that in mind," Scott said. "So, did Rogue manage to persuade you to join us?"

Logan gave a growl and glared at Gambit. Rogue grinned at Logan, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"Actually she did," Gambit said, much to Rogue's and Courier's surprise. "I'd be happy to join the X-Men."

Rogue's story about his being needed for the future sounded like a complete fabrication, but the idea of it appealed to his romantic nature. Besides, he didn't exactly have anything better to do, so why not join the X-Men and see what happened?

"Great," Scott replied, feeling that was worth the whole Gambit impersonating him thing.

"And on that note, I should be going," Courier said. "Nice meeting you again, Rogue. Remy."

Rogue and Gambit said their goodbyes and Courier teleported away.

"Oh, and I don't come empty-handed," Gambit said, turning back to Logan and Scott before either one could say any more. "I happen to possess some, hmm, sensitive data from various places. When we get back to your place, I'd be happy to let you copy what I picked up from Trask Industries and Benetech Labs."

Rogue glanced at the box in Gambit's hands, which he had specifically called up Courier to return to him. Scott and Logan looked at each other. Trask Industries was responsible for the Sentinels, amongst other things, and Benetech Labs had taken over the Legacy Cure project after Worthington Pharmaceuticals dropped out.

"You can think of it as a peace offering or something," Gambit when on blithely. "So, when do we leave? And is the room next to Rogue's empty?"


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Rogue sat quietly across from Gambit at their table in the fine restaurant. They were both wearing good casual clothes and had arrived on Gambit's new motorcycle. Gambit was particularly fond of the leather pants Rogue wore.

It had been a week since Gambit had joined the X-Men. To his disappointment, neither of the rooms next to Rogue's were free, so he had to make do with a room down the hall instead. Logan had Gambit start training with the team in the Danger Room almost from day one. At the end of his first session, a particularly gruelling exercise, Bobby said to Gambit: "Welcome to the X-Men. We hope you survive the experience."

The assassin community had taken a hit from hunting down Gambit. Seven had been hospitalised due to injuries (three prior to Gambit reaching his safehouse, and four during his departure from Canada). Two had been killed, (one prior to Gambit reaching his safehouse, and one during his departure). Twenty-six had been put into comas of varying lengths (two in Canada, Bullseye and Elektra in Missouri, and the twenty-two in Oklahoma). All of these had led to subsequent arrests. Some had already escaped custody, and more would either escape or evade justice with a good lawyer.

Nevertheless, it was generally accepted that the bounty originally set by Sybil Zane had been far too low. It had been therefore decided by the Hell House (and other assassin houses) that the minimum bounty for Gambit's head, and Rogue's by extension, would be at least ten times that. Gambit was quite smug when he found out.

So was Deadpool, as he figured he would accept that bounty and then get Gambit to pay him three times that not to kill him. It was the perfect get rich quick scheme! Now, if only someone would put another bounty on Gambit's head...

Rogue set her finished plate aside and picked up her glass while Gambit perused the dessert menu. True to his word, Gambit was taking her out on her first proper date, but she was finding she wasn't quite enjoying it as much as she thought. It wasn't that Gambit wasn't being romantic or anything. He'd brought her flowers and been generally charming. The restaurant was quite nice. Conversation had been pleasant. She really had no cause to complain whatsoever.

Yet, she was bored. She had been so excited about having her first date and now that she was having it, she was wondering what all the fuss was about. Was it her? Had she built up dating to be such a wonderful thing that she'd lost sight of the reality in favour of the fantasy?

"Anything interesting?" Rogue asked him as he set the menu aside.

He gave a shrug. "No, not really. But I'm feeling a little full at the moment anyway."

"Yeah, so am I. Dinner was really good," Rogue replied agreeably.

"Yeah."

They looked at each other, Gambit studying her thoughtfully.

"So this is kind of weird," he said. "You and me, out having a decent meal, just the two of us, and not getting jumped by assassins."

Rogue gave a laugh. "Yeah, I had a feeling something was missing."

Gambit grinned. "You as bored as I am?"

The look Rogue gave him was one of relief. "Yes!"

"Wanna go start a fight?" he asked mischievously.

"Absolutely."

* * *

><p><strong>End.<strong>

It feels like it's been years since I last finished a story... oh wait, it has.

Thanks everyone for all your reviews. And I hope that everyone (regardless of whether you reviewed or not) enjoyed the story.

I hope that it's clear that the thing Gambit was meant to do was provide the information on the drives. In my head, 20 years in the future Xavier came across Gambit's ski cabin while in the company of Deadpool (who knew where the cabin was, for obvious reasons). By that point the ski cabin was rather run down and falling apart, (and there was a skeleton in front of the fireplace), and they found the place where Gambit had hidden the data and his fake IDs and stuff. Xavier realised that if the X-Men had gotten the information earlier they could have prevented a few things. It's win-win really, save the world and save Gambit at the same time. Hurrah! ;)

I did considered going into all this in-story but that would have meant figuring out things like what specific threat they were trying to save the world from and that was all too much effort, hehe. I just wanted to write a story where Rogue and Gambit hooked up quickly and kicked butt together.


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